Time Brand
by The Canadian HoneyBadger
Summary: A disillusioned Cody loses his third season; but before he goes home without the money or the girl he finds himself waking up on the day before the first season of TDI. And a chilling ultimatum is carved into his wall and flesh. "Win or repeat this day a thousand times!" Against shadowy T.V. show producers, the supernatural, and his own darkness. Can Cody hope to keep his soul?
1. Chapter 1: Greet the New Day

A disillusioned Cody loses his third season; but before he goes home without the money or the girl he finds himself waking up on the day before the first season of TDI. And a chilling ultimatum is carved into his wall and flesh. _"Win or repeat this day a thousand times!"_

XXXXXX

Cody awoke with a start; his pulse raced in the darkness and he was sweating uncontrollably. The teen was on complete autopilot as he ran forward into the bathroom and puked his guts out into the toilet. Finally after what felt like years Cody lifted his head from the bowl and groaned; falling onto his back.

"What happened?" Cody mumbled to himself; before he looked around the bathroom. He didn't recognize his surroundings for a few moments until an old memory clicked into place.

"This… is the hotel I stayed at… before I left for season 1" Cody said to himself before shaking his head. Getting up and looking around; Cody found everything to be in place according to his, admittedly rather hazy, memory of the place.

As he walked out of the bathroom and into the main area of his hotel room, Cody's eyes were immediately drawn to the mirror hanging above his dresser. The mirror was fogged over as if someone had taken a long shower and steam filled the mirror, and drawn on it was a single sentence.

'_Win or repeat this day a thousand times.'_

It was at this point Cody started to get a little afraid.

Suddenly a burning pain made itself known to him. Falling to the ground Cody tried to scream as a vicious pain burnt through his body but his voice refused to respond. Cody's back arched as his abdomen burned like some was branding him with heated iron.

Finally after what felt like years Cody was able to breathe again, and he tore off his pyjama shirt to see what the hell happened to him. The sight made Cody's teal eyes shoot open and his breath hitch.

A circular mark was emblazoned upon his stomach; showing up in a livid red as if someone had carved it carefully with a knife, within the scar was another circle, this one showing up as a darker blood red.

Cody's mind froze and he wondered what the hell was going on; how was this even possible? The teen tenderly rubbed his stomach and felt the ridges of the brand on his stomach. Cody closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

Whatever the hell was going on he didn't want to know, he just wanted things to go back to normal.

XXXXXX

Cody stayed in his room that morning and ignored the knocking on his door, hearing someone's voice on the other side asking for him to come out. Eventually the voice left and Cody spent the rest of the day hiding in his room from the outside world.

It wasn't the smartest or bravest thing he'd ever done; Cody mused to himself, but he was scared of going out. There was something frightening and supernatural at work and he was quite happy staying inside his nice safe hotel room.

Eventually when the clock above his mirror (which had returned to normal) struck midnight once more; Cody found himself once again in burning agony, he looked down and saw the mark emblazoned on his stomach turning pitch black and Cody had just enough time to wonder why this was happening to him before blacking out.

XXXXXX

Cody awoke the same way he did the night before; he ran to the bathroom and heaved his guts out, before seeing the same sentence emblazoned upon his mirror with an addition.

'_Win, or repeat this day a thousand times'_

'_Hiding is unbecoming of you.'_

A burning fury rent through Cody and the normally peaceful gap-toothed boy thought about smashing in the mirror. A thought struck Cody and with sudden alacrity and he ran over to his bedroom dresser and threw away everything inside it searching for his phone. Finding and opening the device, Cody whimpered in shock as he stared at the screen. The mixed lighting casting a blue and white glow over Cody's face in the darkness.

The phone showed the date as one day before he left for TDI's first season.

'_Either someone hacked my phone and his playing the ultimate prank on me… or I've honest to god time traveled' _Cody thought numbly before he looked out of his window and saw everything the way it was the night before when he had first woke up.

'_Is it really possible that I've time traveled?'_

XXXXXX

Cody went through the next day in a daze; he dimly remembered going out at the behest of an intern Cody vaguely remembered the first time performing season 1. He then hopped on a familiar boat. Looking behind him Cody saw a few identical boats behind him and Cody felt frozen inside.

'_If I remember right, Gwen is on one of the boats in front of me…' _

The rest of the day went by in an even worse trance; Cody walked past Chris without acknowledging the homicidal host's greeting leaving Chris with a faked expression of hurt. Cody found himself staring at Gwen most of the day, until the gothic girl asked him to stop, looking creeped out.

Cody soon found himself standing in front of a familiar cliff with the cheeky host behind him; still in a daze the teen barely noticed when Chris leaned near Cody and asked softly.

"Uh kid, you okay?" That statement alone made Cody's head spin; was Chris worried about him?

Chris?! Of all people?! Cody turned and saw genuine concern for the teen in Chris's beady eyes. The Host was actually worried for Cody's health!

"Uh yeah, I think I'll have to chicken out here, sorry." Cody said now a bit spaced out from the fact that in a weird way Chris had actually been genuinely worried for Cody's health. The enthusiasm in the host returned and Chris slapped Cody on the back before slapping a humiliating hat on tech geeks head.

"See ya downstairs then buddy!"

Cody, remembering the screaming gophers winning the challenge; was shocked when he found himself sitting at a campfire next to an extremely nervous Beth.

"And the camper who will get to stay another day… is… BETH!"

Cody felt a very, very, sharp shard of betrayal and hurt slam into his chest. Carefully managing his expression Cody smiled sadly and looked up to his future friends who were unaware of why this betrayal hurt so much.

"Haha that's fine guys; sorry I let you down." Cody saw some flashes of pity in the eyes of the other campers and felt a burst of anger this time.

He didn't want pity. He **hated **pity.

Eventually Cody remembered walking down a familiar dock and jumped off it, the cold water woke him from his daze and he found himself spinning around in darkness.

Had time to remember that unlike in future seasons campers didn't have to jump off into a body of water, they took a boat home, before everything went dark.

XXXXXX

Cody woke up in a familiar hotel.

This time he did smash the mirror and hid away in his room the entire day.

A mixture of hurt, betrayal, confusion, all swam around inside him as he realized he had been the guy voted off first by people he thought were his friends.

It was with these thoughts of betrayal and anger Cody remembered the words of the mirror.

_Win, or repeat this day a thousand times_

_Hiding is unbecoming of you._

Cody thought miserably _'Gee thanks for the words of encouragement; I've actually somehow managed to mess up even worse this time then I did the first time around.'_

Slowly anger and hurt melted away to glorious elation as a though struck Cody; he could do things right this time! He could win, make friends; even possibly melt Gwen's heart along the way!

At that thought Cody's newly found joy flashed away.

Okay maybe not Gwen, but at the very least he could have fun and be remembered less as the dorky guy who got rejected on national T.V. and instead be known as Cody...

...whoever he wanted that to be!

'_Yeah,_' Cody thought to himself _'I can work with this!'_

'_I have a fresh start, and I can use it!'_

XXXXXX

This is the first chapter of an idea that wouldn't leave me alone; literally as soon as I had finished 'Frosty Wolf's' short and (sadly) dead 'Total drama Timeloop' it kept bugging me. I got his blessing for the idea as well; though this is not his story adopted. This is my own ideas on his concept! In any case it'll be largely Cody-centric but with a few changes.

Cody watched the girl of his dreams, Gwen, slowly turn into a nasty person. He is then left with team Amazon; girls all who've been damaged by Alejhandro and Duncan in some way plus Sierra. Because of this Cody has become a rather depressed individual. It'll show in the next few chapters; "Codemeister" will show up a few times but it will be more Cody satirizing himself than anything. Don't worry though; Cody will still be the self-sacrificing, kind-hearted nerd we all know and love; his thoughts will be just darker then you'd expect. Finally expect to see changes! Perhaps not right away but this story will not necessary follow canon or canon pairings.

Lastly Fuck NoCo! Yeah you heard me! Your favorite pairing is shit!

*achem* now that I've lost 80% of my viewers for 'funsies' just wanna point out Yaoi/Yuri pairings are not likely unless they are canon (and there are no gay canon pairings in TDI) nothing against gays, just feel awkward as hell writing it. To be fair to the guys I also extend the same policy to women :P.

In any case...

Onwards!


	2. Chapter 2: Doing it Right

The first thing Cody did for the day was make plans with the time he had left in it. Since he had already given up his spot in 'TDI' this timeline Cody amused himself and tried to remember as much as he could of the challenges ahead.

The first he did was look at his wardrobe.

Okay so it wasn't terrible; he had originally put on the sweater for warmth, the collared shirt for class, and the worn jeans to show he was a 'cool cat'. Well that was what he had thought when he first left for TDI; Cody had foregone any other proper camping gear because well; he thought they were going to a resort; surely they'd have any other clothes he'd need at the resort!

'_Not this time'_ Cody thought to himself and this time laid out sturdier clothing. He placed down a plain, form-fitting, but comfortable black turtleneck shirt. A black pair of cargo pants with plenty of pockets, and a pair of hiking boots which were also black.

Cody blushed at seeing how much black he had chosen before grabbing a thick leather jacket for warmth. Cody felt like the outfit was a little bit 'try-hardy' for his taste but remembering the cold nights at Wawanaka made Cody put a green scarf on the pile.

Happy with his choices Cody then took a shower before changing his luggage. He found himself staring at a bunch of custom shampoos, his favourite robe, clean underwear, and a bunch of IT gadgets and games.

Helpless to stop it Cody let out a snort. Jesus he'd been a naïve kid those years ago, really? A Gameboy? He liked video games but in a game show like this there was no time for gaming.

Cody quickly repacked and this time brought survival gear, a fully stocked medkit, (and thinking back to all his injuries put in several kits.), and other useful odds and ends.

Cody then looked at his electric keyboard; in the first timeline Cody hadn't brought it since the resort would probably have a better one right? Then when he'd come back from TDI he'd been horribly out of practice.

Cody placed it with its collapsible and portable stand with his luggage gingerly. If he was careful it should remain undamaged and he could practice away from the other campers at the start of the show since he was probably rusty as hell again.

'_Why on earth did I enter a band if I never practice?_' Cody thought scowling to himself. Finally Cody let himself take a shower before realising he was too pumped to think about getting back to sleep.

'_Well I'm in for a long night' _Cody thought to himself morosely.

XXXXXX

It was only 4 in the morning when Cody awoke in his repeats so he spent that time going through the challenges in his head and grabbing useful stuff and packing it away in his luggage.

In the end he decided to keep a few of his gaming devices figuring it couldn't hurt and he had the room.

'_Besides if they get damaged I'll either wake up with them fixed again, or walk away from this with a lot of cash._' Cody justified in his mind.

Finally unable to wait any longer Cody went down to the beach and helped the interns pack up his boat. Cody caught a glimpse of a certain nerdy girl walking in her own boat and realised that Beth probably also hadn't gotten much sleep.

The intern who piloted Cody's boat the first time around walked up to Cody.

"Hey; wanna leave early? We'd be the first ones there!" The intern said giving Cody a friendly smile. Cody looked at the bearded intern with a grin. The first time around he'd been in a daze at being picked for something and had slept in, getting to the island fairly late.

This time…

"Well it couldn't hurt! Let's go!" Cody said grinning and the boatman smiled at the teen's enthusiasm.

"Say, what's your name? I never caught it." Cody said, inwardly chuckling at his reference to the past timelines.

"Um that's cause I didn't give it; we're not supposed to tell campers our names." The intern said looking uncertain for a second.

Cody grinned a little more and whispered conspiratorially to the intern "well you know…. Rules **are** made to be broken, and it might be a bit awkward of a ride if I have to call you intern the entire way." The boatman grinned at this before giving in.

"Ah true enough, the names David, nice ta meetcha!" David said grinning and Cody smiled back,

"Well you probably already know this but my names Cody-" The gap-toothed boy said grinning; he slung his last bag off his back on the boat and took off his now overly-hot leather jacket.

"-and it's time we hit the road!" Cody finished grinning… before pausing, "er… ocean!"

David grinned back and they were off.

XXXXXX

It was halfway to the island when Cody had a thought occur to him. David probably knew a lot more about the behind the scenes happenings of the show then Cody did. Cody then flashed back to Chris asking him if he were okay on the cliff; whether or not Chris was a jerk, there was still an honest concern for Cody in the host's eyes back there.

"So David what's Chris like?" Cody asked and David gave a start at the host's name before looking around.

"Well he isn't really a bad guy for the most part; hell even chef, you'll meet him later, isn't that bad a dude when you get to know him. The problem is the show's board." David said getting a bit nervous now. "Chris got locked in a really bad contract before and is really fighting hard to get some sort of official notice on the show; I'm not supposed to tell you this but the board is really not a nice group of people." The intern gave a shudder. "They remind more of bond villains then T.V. show producers."

Cody raised an eyebrow "So they're the ones who make the show dangerous?" he said unthinkingly.

David stared at Cody, "how'd you know about that? I thought that was a secret from you guys till the first challenge." Cody paused at his slip of the tongue before finding a good excuse.

"I heard two other interns talking about it earlier, said something about a cliff, sharks, and the hospital." Cody said hoping he wasn't about to get caught out of his lie.

"Well you're right," David said accepting Cody's story and not noticing the gap-toothed teen's sigh of relief. "Mclean is pushing for work-safety, legal representation on unfair use of contracts, going into contract law, hell he even tried Peta. The contracts you guys signed aren't even valid since they added a bunch of new pages." David said looking very nervous. "The problem is the board is a group of people who are rich enough to give away a million dollars on an already expensive show; they have enough money to throw around that'll shut anyone up; PETA, lawyers, work safety, it doesn't matter." David said. "Chris is usually pretty nice but stress has been getting to him, he's been a bit snappish and is banking on you guys or your parents managing to get some help."

Cody remembered Chris's "mock" look of hurt earlier when Cody ignored him; "So then he isn't that bad a guy?" Cody asked

David smiled for the first time since they started on this topic, "No; he's an arrogant ass, but I mean that in a good way. He's pretty nice and cheerful most of the time. Even if the shouting matches stopped after the producers threatened his public image if he kept up the disobedience. Chris is pretty obsessed with his image, and he's also fairly petty sometimes; other than that? He's a cool guy!"

Cody paused at that; "Thanks David for telling me this, by the way, I know you're risking a lot to tell me this." Cody said grinning at the intern who grinned back,

"Haha just don't tell anyone else mmkay? Chris is allowed to be 'naughty' since he's famous, but some nobody like me? Heck I wouldn't last the week if they found out."

Cody returned the chat to safer topics as they boated along the water; as they talked about the recording equipment used in the island. Cody found himself thinking about the show.

Just who were these mysterious producers anyway?

XXXXXX

Annnnd that's a wrap! Another fairly short chapter I know but this marks the end of the preliminary stuff.

Interesting fact; Cody's outfit is almost identical to Leon's from Resident evil 4; I realized this after designing it in my head so I got a few chuckles out of that. Essentially make his shirt long-sleeved, drop the gun holster; put a green scarf on and 'bam!' Cody's outfit for this fic!

I also forgot to address this in the previous chapter but this does not necessarily mean I am abandoning BOTN. I've just run into some writers block regarding the 'video game' part of that story and I am trying to rewrite the previous few chapters, and post massive one at the same time, the word count for the next chapter I've written for BOTN is at 23,000 words. I've only edited a quarter of that and it's still very, very rough. I usually do 2 edits for a chapter as well so this is a nice break.

Finally this chapter was only edited once properly rather than my usual twice over so I apologize for any mistakes. Just yell at me and quote the expression, or spelling error in a comment and I'll fix it.

Cheers!


	3. Chapter 3: A Fresh Start

**Camera Start **\- indicates a scene that is filmed and shown in TDI

**Camera end **\- indicates the scene change for the T.V. show; but we will continue to follow Cody

XXXXXX

Eventually the intern and teen found themselves speeding towards the dock of shame and Cody felt a knot of tension that was slowly building in his stomach make itself known to him. Sighing to himself Cody looked to David who was also more subdued than usual.

"Look kid I feel like I'm throwing you to the sharks here, so let me give you some advice; don't worry about winning the challenges as much as staying alive. You can get million dollars on another show; you can't win your life back." David began and Cody nodded; not pointing out the fact he'd probably end up back at the hotel back in time.

"Finally don't mention you've talked to me or my name, or my goose is cooked!" David said nervously before nodding to himself, "Keep going the way you are and you'll be fine! Good luck!" David said as Cody threw his coat back on before grabbing his bags.

This was it; his every action was soon going to be recorded, all his mistakes, all the pressure, and all his movements were going to be reviewed by a shadowy board as he fought to keep himself and his friends alive.

'_David's right, he __**is **__throwing me to shark tank'_ Cody thought as slowly a macabre smile made its way on his face. _'But I have one advantage nobody knows, I can redo all my mistakes, and I know the challenges ahead of time! So I can die and lose all I like; I just have to trial and error my way through this!'_

Finally the boat slowed down and Cody saw he was the first person to arrive on the dock. Cody took the time to observe Chris. He remembered a sadistic, evil, and manipulative host; but the more Cody thought about it the more the story made sense.

Chris was forced to not show any worry for the campers or he'd get fired for favouritism. He was also placing hope on the kid's parents to save them from the producers. Cody thought back to how distant his own parents were and how most of the campers had suspiciously apathetic parents.

'_It's like we were chosen so that the parents wouldn't kick up a fuss about the show… or even watch it!' _Cody thought to himself and realised how ingenious and evil the producers really were. _'I'll have to watch myself.'_ Cody then remembered how bitter Chris was at the end of season 3, he had gotten a lot more sadistic, and he was also a lot nicer the first season.

'_-because he was under more stress, more pressure, and at that point we were actively hating Chris.' _Cody thought in dawning horror _'After all, hatred begets hatred and….'_

Cody shook himself, at the very least he'd be nice to Chris this time around.

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

"HEY-HEY! It's the Codemeister, Whats up bro!" Chris said flicking his arms and mimed two guns before clicking at Cody; much like the first time around Cody grinned at the host, and gave him a high-five.

"Hey Chris! It's good to be here!" Cody said before miming a bit of surprise.

"Um… we're short one swanky resort by the way." Cody said staring at the camp from the dock. They could afford a slightly longer intro since Cody was so ahead of the others.

"Haha yeah, that's where you staying man! We're going for a summer camp!" Christ said grinning and Cody barely managed not to roll his eyes.

"-And I totally signed up for summer camp." Cody deadpanned before shrugging; "eh what the hell, I actually came fairly prepped for anything so I don't mind. Have fun with the other campers though." Cody said grinning and Chris gave him a mock wince.

Walking off to the other side of the pier Cody watched Beth hug Chris and give a short greeting before she walked over to Cody. Cody gave her a friendly smile and said 'hi' and repressed a wince when he saw a blush spread across Beth's face. The nerdy girl rubbed her feet together shyly and murmured a soft hi back to the gap-toothed teen.

Cody then grinned and fist bumped DJ when he saw Gwen walk off the pier.

Once again his breath was taken away at the site of his one, and only, love walking off her boat; she was beautiful even as she tore a contract in half and scowled murderously at Chris. Her smooth and pale (some would say pasty) skin shining in the sunlight, her eyes shimmering-

-Cody shook his head, he was not going to obsess about Gwen this time. He'd wasted so many opportunities and so much time on the goth girl in his first run. Cody vowed silently to himself; that was the last love-struck stare he gave to Gwen.

Snapping back to reality Cody offered her a nod and a still slightly shy smile as she stood next to DJ and Beth. Next to arrive was Geoff and Cody hid a grin at their boisterous greeting. Next to him he heard Gwen mutter, "They say 'man' one more time and I kill someone."

Chris then turned to the campers and introduced Lindsay; Cody couldn't help but to wolf-whistle sharply at the blonde bombshell's entrance, getting a glare from Gwen and a chuckle from DJ and Geoff. The next contestant to arrive was Heather and a familiar conundrum made itself known to Cody.

Cody was unsure what to think or feel about the self-proclaimed 'Queen bee'. Heather was a complete and utter bitch in the first season, but by the end of season 3 Cody would've nursed a small crush on her if it weren't for Gwen.

Heather could be nice, if prickly, after she learnt a valuable and much needed lesson in humility. For now Cody would be careful around her; after all even if she had cooled down at the end of season 3 Heather couldn't be trusted; never-mind this fresh one.

This all ran through Cody's head as he chuckled lightly at the expression of Heather's face as Beth sent saliva all over her 'designer new clothes'. Heather huffed and set her large amounts of luggage next to the pile and glared at Cody.

"What's so funny shorty?!" she barked out and Cody couldn't help but accept her invitation to a verbal spar.

"Your face." He said glibly and seeing the thunderstruck expression on her face he then said the second half of his retort. "You just had such a horrified expression on it; I couldn't help laughing." Cody said grinning and he heard DJ also chuckle.

Heather huffed at him sharply but remained silent. Cody then turned to face the next camper but his insides had sharply turned to ice.

'_Duncan; that two-timing, back-stabbing, bastard.' _Cody thought and couldn't stop a flash of anger from entering his face. He didn't notice Heather who was still staring at Cody see it; or the curious expression made its way on her face before it settled back into its neutral mask.

Cody couldn't help disliking Duncan; the mohawked teen wasn't evil, but he was just such an asshole to Cody and treated women so poorly it made the gap-toothed teen grit his teeth.

Fuming quietly Cody just banished the thoughts from his head and focused on the next boat.

Tyler was always a laugh Cody smiled as he saw the teen crash into the pier. Suddenly a thought made itself known to him and before Cody could think his next action over; he pulled Heather next to him sharply and she shrieked in protest before water spilled all over the spot she was standing a moment ago.

Cody froze and for a second a flash of fear was on his face before he slipped on a cocky and confident mask.

"Careful Heather, almost got soaked there." Cody said praying she wouldn't draw notice to the fact he somehow knew where the water would spill before it happened. Turning around before she could formulate a reply Cody missed another curious and confused expression on the queen bee's face.

When Cody turned around; Harold was already in the process of bragging about his skills (Cody thought back to the dodgeball challenge and found himself smiling a little). Harold then stood next to Duncan who glared murderously at the geek.

Trent was the next person on the dock and Cody couldn't stop the genuine smile from coming on his face at seeing one of his few real friends again. Trent had to have been one of Cody's favourite people in the original timeline; hopefully they'd be able to become friends again.

Bridgette arrived next and throughout her introduction with Chris nearly took Cody's head off with her surfboard several times. Cody was about to say something to her along the lines of 'watch where you swing that thing' when another familiar and friendly face hopped on the dock.

Upon seeing Noah's disdainful expression and deadpan treatment of Chris; Cody put quotation marks on the 'friendly' part of his description mentally. Still determined to make sure the sarcastic brain stayed on the show longer this time Cody walked up and spoke to Noah.

"Hi!" Cody said giving Noah his patented cheeky, gap-toothed, grin. Noah looked at his hand and sniffed before walking into the group. Feeling a bit put out Cody sighed and waited for the next camper.

Cody heard a familiar shout and saw Leshawna get ashore, giving a Dj and Chris both happy greetings before nearly beating the crap out of Harold. Cody smiled at the oblivious geek who already took notice of Leshawna.

'_One of the weirdest, but nicest relationships to come out of this show.' _Cody thought as a familiar person walked on the pier.

"Ezekiel whats up?" Chris said grinning and Ezekiel paused to examine the sky.

"I think I see a bird," he said blinking slowly at the sky.

Cody heard Trent snicker as he studied the home-schooled boy; before the repeats Cody hadn't paid much thought to the home-schooled boy. But that was back when Cody didn't know how it felt to be the first one condemned by the campers.

Cody felt like complete crap and that was with the confidence of having hundreds of fangirls, plenty of friends, and knowing he was a decent guy; if a bit geeky and obsessive about a certain goth.

Ezekiel had none of that padding; worse this was likely his first social rejection; Cody thought back to the first elimination he saw on tape and remembered how terrified Ezekiel was.

Looking at the homeschooled boy Cody felt a deep pang of pity and sadness.

All this passed through Cody's head in a few seconds whilst Chris raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the boy.

"Okay, I know you were home schooled and didn't get out much; so try to stay quiet and not get voted off too soon." Chris said; metaphorically shooting Ezekiel's potential social life in the head; his bird remark could've been played off of sarcasm but Chris should've known that saying that in front of the campers painted a big fat target on Ezekiel. Cody felt a flash of anger at the host before remembering how it felt having every action recorded; never mind combed and scrutinised for traitorous behaviour by a shadowy evil board of producers.

Letting Chris's dick move slide for now; Cody decided to try and help the prarie boy get another chance and walked up similar to how he greeted Noah; a bright a cheerful grin on his face and a friendly hi to the boy.

"Hi Zeke, names Cody! Welcome to the island!" Cody said hoping he wouldn't get dismissed again.

Ezekiel perked up a bit and smiled at Cody accepting his outstretched,

"Mm' nice te' meetcha!" Zeke said and Cody retreated into the group of campers feeling a stab of nostalgia as he realised this was when he'd arrived originally.

Instead of a naïve, love-struck, tech-geek, from the past however; a surly heavy-set Girl with a massive beauty mark on her cheek walked out of the boat. She had her face set in a scowl and ignored Chris's cordial greeting and set down her weights.

…right onto Cody's foot.

"Ow hey! Watch where you put your stuff!" Cody yelped grabbing his foot comically. Eva merely stared at the geek trying to intimidate him. Cody having seen far scarier things was unimpressed and continued. "What do you put in there anyways? Dumbbells?" Cody repeated his first timeline's joke knowing full well the answer.

"Yes." Eva ground out and looked over to the next arrival.

Owen was next and he enthusiastically greeted everyone and Chris jumping around. Cody bit the inside of the cheek when his third least favourite camper arrived.

Courtney; a power-hungry, bitchy, complaining, sow; who was a complete and utter-

"Hi I'm Courtney; it's nice to meet you!" she said cheerfully to the group and Cody could only stare as Owen luckily picked up his slack in greeting her.

**This **was Courtney? Cody though back to how cruel she had been in season 3 to the other competitors; even explaining it with being cheated on by Duncan it still didn't explain her nastiness in season two... unless

Had Duncan really had this much of a negative effect on a girl? Cody ignored Justin's arrival as everyone stared at the attractive boy. Instead Cody's gaze was fixated on the CIT in training. A scary thought was making itself known to the boy.

Would Gwen have been just as nasty in a season 4 thanks to Duncan? Was the delinquent really that much of a negative influence?

The hubbub from Justin's arrival faded and Courtney looked over to Cody who was still unabashedly staring at her; giving him an uncertain wave Cody looked away and blushed at being caught staring. Damnit! he needed to focus; he could try to dissuade the currently sweet girl from dating Duncan later at some point. Staring made him a target for elimination, or something.

Izzy was the next to arrive and she jumped off the pier only to crash into it, jaw first, and spill into the water.

Cody had not seen the cheerful, and quite insane, red-head for a while; and so found himself rushing forward to help the girl. As Cody helped the red-head up he noticed a mocha coloured hand also helping her.

'_Courtney? Again?' _ Cody seriously needed to figure out what had made the CIT so bitter and help her stay kind and cheerful.

Even pre-occupied as he was Cody couldn't stop the cheerful smile from going on his face as Izzy demonstrated how weird she was and danced around the pier.

It was good to be back.

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

A sopping wet but oddly nostalgic and cheerful Cody reverently entered his cabin; placing his thankfully dry electric keyboard on his bed and his suitcase underneath it. He wrung out some of his hair and laid next to his keyboard; sighing contentedly to himself.

Straining his memory Cody thought back to the previous events; what had happened next? Cody wondered; He got kicked out of the girl's cabin, Lindsay found a cockroach and screamed, then they went off to meet chef.

Suddenly a voice broke into Cody's musings as Trent spoke up to Cody for the first time (well for Trent).

"Dude, nice keyboard, you play?" the musician asked as he set his own instrument on the ground. Cody swung himself up into a sitting position and gave Trent his patented gap-toothed grin.

"Sure do! But I'm probably rusty as hell." Cody said, he looked at Trent's guitar, "Ah you lucky bastard, your instrument is portable and easy to use!" Cody said grinning and Trent laughed at the 'in' joke between musicians.

"Pfft still have it harder than singers." Trent said and Cody mock rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, but guitars pull all the girls." Cody said wistfully, a sense of irony in his voice. "Still we should jam once I get back into practice." Cody said smiling at Trent.

Suddenly a scream broke through the camp and the two musicians got up and ran over to the cabin it had come from.

**Camera Start**

They arrived just in time to see Duncan smash a cockroach in half with a hatchet. A thought occurred to Cody and curiosity overruled his natural dislike of the mohawked teen.

"Dude, Duncan where'd you even get the axe." Duncan raised his pierced eyebrow, turning towards the geek he looked over his hatchet.

"I… don't… know. Why? Want me to test it out on you pipsqueak?" Duncan growled out glaring at Cody. Cody snorted,

"I know they say you can get away with murder on television; but that's only a figure of speech dude." Cody said to the delinquent who merely sighed at meeting another person who was immune to his threats.

"Yeah, yeah." Duncan growled out before storming past Trent and Cody.

Trent turned to Cody an eyebrow raised and a smile on his face; "Nice enough guy dontcha think?" Trent asked Cody and the gap-toothed teen laughed.

"Yeah, sorry I think only magnets are attracted to him." Cody said grinning and they both laughed at that, a new voice also laughed. Cody looked up to see a familiar mocha-coloured CIT in training laughing at his joke.

"Ah I see another contestant has a sense of humour" Cody said grinning, "Care to join us at lunch?" and both Trent and Courtney stared at Cody.

"What?" he asked and Courtney spoke,

"Aren't we supposed to sit with our teams?" she asked and Cody wilted as he remembered the seating arrangements of season one.

"Right, sorry about that then;" Cody said blushing again as he rubbed the back of his head.

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

The cafeteria line up listened carefully as chef barked out the lunch schedule. Cody looked at the large black man carefully, _'How far have the producers pushed you chef?' _Cody wondered as he realised the 'cook' looked younger and less strained now, than back at season 3. It seemed the constant stress of TDI really had driven the man to age faster and be nastier.

Cody sighed again as the melancholy thought crossed his mind; how many people he had hated were actually victims in their own way?

"Er, you okay?" a familiar voice broke into his thoughts and Cody looked up and saw Ezekiel looking at the gap-toothed teen in worry. "You, eh, seem sad." Ezekiel said; his awkward mannerism once distancing Cody from the boy; now it only seemed to remind him of how mean he'd been to the prairie boy on the past.

"Hehe I'm fine!" Cody said plastering on a fake cocky smile, slipping into an old routine as familiar as breathing to Cody. "Nothing fazes the Codemeister!" Cody said pointing to himself with his thumb; a cocky gap-toothed grin emblazoned on his face.

Ezekiel blinked and asked quietly; "Ehm, does that actually werk? I mean does anyone actually fall for that routine?" Now it was Cody's turn to blink as Ezekiel saw through and shot down his routine faster than Gwen ever rejected him.

Now speaking genuinely Cody rubbed the back of his neck as they progressed forward in the line,

"Well I don't know if it works, but nobody ever calls me out on it if it doesn't…" he said thinking back; even Sierra didn't seem to realise that 'Codemeister' was Cody at his most uncomfortable or depressed. "Anyways it ain't a big deal. I shouldn't let life pull me down like I was." Cody said making a mental note to stop worrying so much. "Now how's camp life treating you Ez?" Cody asked as they sat down on different tables but across from one another.

"Mmm i'ss alright I guess," Ezekiel said slowly, blinking again; Cody feeling a bit perturbed now gave the prairie raised teen a grin;

"Alright but don't be afraid to come to Codemeister if you need any tips on the ladies~" Cody said in sing-song wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Hearing a snort from the person sitting next to him Cody turned and was mildly surprised to see Heather looking at him; Cody decided to roll with it.

"Mm Heather, don't be afraid to admit that you want a piece of the Codemeister!" Cody said stopping his wiggling for a second. Heather paused to reply only for Cody to start eye-brow waggling in full force.

"Oh please like I'd ever date a loser like you" She sniped unable to stop the corner of her mouth lifting slightly.

Cody nodded and turned to Ezekiel, saying in a not so quiet voice; "See buddy? She totally wants me now, all I gotta do is- Yeow!" Cody yelped as a shoe stamped on his foot. Looking over to Heather and giving her his best crushed puppy look Cody let out in a small whining voice.

"OOouu; Heather-baby why you gotta be so mean to me! All I want is your love!" Cody said holding his chest as if he were mortally wounded.

"Can it nerd-linger" Heather said eating her slop with as much dignity as she could, "Be thankful I didn't aim for something more sensitive."

Cody was unfazed and merely gave her a gap-toothed grin; he turned and gave Ezekiel a 'thumbs up' and mouthed, '_Totally. Wants. Me',_ to the home-schooled boy. Fortunately for Cody Heather either chose to ignore him or didn't notice. Cody then saw Courtney watching the scene from across the room and started to waggle his eyebrows at her next; the CIT rolled her eyes before continuing her meal.

**Camera End**

Cody gave Zeke a final wink before returning to his 'food' and started a conversation with Trent on chord progressions they both knew for the jam session they were thinking of.

Cody was punctuating his arguments against major chords with sharp movements of his spork; when he heard Geoff shout out to Chris.

"Aw man can't we order pizza?!"

A cleaver slammed in the doorway millimeters from hitting the party boy. The silence in the room was deafening and Cody winced; Chef was fairly sensitive about the slop that was served.

"Um, I mean brown slop is cool! Right guys!" Geoff shouted and Cody chuckled at that.

XXXXXX

After food and a renewed discussion on chords Trent and Cody found their conversation dying at the sight of a massive cliff; their first challenge had come. Cody found himself swallowing his words as a massive tension cut through the group. The cliff and sharks were bad but Cody found himself dreading something worse.

Someone would be going home that night.

And if he played his cards terribly wrong it could be him.

XXXXXX

An so we move on to Cody's first challenge.

Well his third attempt on it really but we're just gonna ignore attempt #2 since it's just there to show what happens if Cody gets voted off, and to give Ezekiel some character dev.

Also chapters are now averaging 3,000 words so far in the challenge I think chapter 4 is sitting at 2,000 right now but that's off the top of my head and I still gotta edit it.

Anyhow Ezekiel is a pain to write; I tried giving him an accent and show how awkward it was talking to the kid, he looked to stiff when he stood up it actually made me feel awkward watching him; I can see why the show voted him off early; give the animators a break.

Still hopefully I characterized Cody's little 'persona' here well; it's important to remember that our little Tech-geek is still extremely unsure of himself and is prone to judging himself far harder than anyone else; he also forgives fairly easily as Chris and Chef aren't quite as good as they may be portrayed, it's just Cody's kind nature showing through again.

Also I hope it isn't too obvious that I skip over parts of the story that aren't relevant to my interests; I'm still experimenting with my writing to see what works so hopefully this method goes well.

I have a few questions for this chapter

"how do you guys find the camera system? Is it distracting or kind of interesting to see what the audience gets to experience?"

"Should I show the confessions of other campers? It would break from Cody's thoughts and might not make full sense but it would be interesting to see nonetheless…"

Finally 3 reviews and 4 favorites to 206 views.

HOLY CRAP! That is awesome! It may not seem that way but this is only 2 chapters in, hell I hadn't even broken 5,000 words, on a small-ish fandom too! Glad to see everyone so far likes the story.

Thankyou especially to my lovely 3 reviewers; Total Drama Queen fortress, LinkBetweenWorlds, and. Frosty Wolf! And thankyou my anonymous 200 readers!


	4. Chapter 4: Leap of Faith

**Camera Start **\- indicates a scene that is filmed and shown in TDI

**Camera end** \- indicates the scene cut for the T.V. show; but we will continue to follow Cody

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

Flying through the air; a rush of adrenaline; blood pounding in his ears.

_Splash._

Freezing water flowing all around him, teeth chattering, but happy. He'd done it.

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

The cliff challenge went about the same way as Cody remembered it going. Courtney and D.J. chickened out and lost their team the challenge; whereas Owen jumped in saving the day for the Screaming Gophers.

Cody sighed as his team's singing continued; if he heard **one** more verse of 'bottles of beer on the wall' he might just end up stabbing someone.

Still… looking around the group of teens that made up his team Cody couldn't stop a small smile making its way onto his face; this was the first time anyone in the cast of TDI cooperated really well and he was a part of it. Something swelled within his chest and before Cody knew it he was singing along, albeit in a quiet tone of voice.

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

Building the hot tub was as easy as Cody remembered it and the only real divergence came when the other team showed up. They looked awful; Courtney in combination with her chicken hat and swollen eye looked ridiculous, the rest of the team was exhausted and sweaty, finally Katie and Sadie were nowhere to be found and Cody suppressed a wince as he remembered why.

Cody looked over the worried, swollen, and humiliated CIT in training and felt a burst of pity. Sighing to himself he turned to the rest of his team.

**Camera Start**

"Hey guys; mind if I hope out for a second? We've got this one in the bag." Indeed they did, half the hot-tub was already finished while the 'Killer Bass' had yet to even make a start on their work. Cody also remembered the 'enemy' team working far slower than the Screaming Gophers had. Seeing the majority of his team smile and nod Cody walked into his cabin.

Courtney's swollen eye was an allergic reaction; something Cody had a lot of experience with. He rummaged through his suitcase until he found what he was looking for; a small container of eye drops.

Walking over to the killer bass Cody tapped Courtney on the shoulder lightly and immediately quailed under her fierce glare the CIT sent him.

"**What."** She ground out fiercely and Cody gave her a shaky smile holding out his eye-drops.

"Um, here; this is for your eye, so you can see properly again. You're uh, allergic to whatever got you in the eye so I'd recommend avoiding whatever it is unless you like being swollen…" Cody didn't notice as her glare softened immensely as he was looking away. Seeing she had the eye-drops Cody quickly walked off before Courtney could get over her shock and thank the teen.

Courtney raised a hand as if to stop Cody before looking at the eye-drops; she let out a sigh before dropping a few in her eye and immediately exhaled in relief as the swelling already started recede a little bit.

"Thanks…" she said quietly to herself before she started to rally her team for the challenge.

Cody meanwhile was berating himself.

"Idiot!" he yelled quietly and hit himself in the head, "if they win now, it's **your **fault! And hell! She didn't even thank you or care so why'd you do it?!" Cody yelled at himself before pausing,

Cody stopped mid-stride and asked himself again in a smaller voice, "Why did I do it?"

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

Katie and Sadie eventually arrived and the Killer Bass's hot-tub was taking shape; it was actually looking fairly decent which made Cody gulp nervously. He ended up doing a lot of the work on his own team's hot-tub to try and make up for giving the enemy an advantage; his knowledge of building things from the previous challenges he'd done helped immensely.

The hot-tub the Screaming Gophers had was a lot larger than it was last time, and could squeeze in the entire team (sans Owen) thanks to Cody's hard work. Every time the tech-geek got tired he'd look over to the Killer Bass and see their hot-tub looking far better than it had the first time around; making Cody strain himself even more. Since he was exhausted by the end of the challenge Cody never noticed the appreciative glances sent his way by his team.

**X**

**Confessional: Trent;**

"I surprised at how much of a help Cody's been in this challenge. Looking at the guy, you'd never think he'd be much of a help in the physical parts of challenges."

**Confessional: Beth;**

Beth blushed as she gushed on about Cody "He's so cute when he gets all determined! You see this glint in his eye every time he looks at the other team too! It's like he is determined to keep everyone on our team safe!" The girl blushed heavily again before putting a hand to her forehead.

**Confessional: Justin**

"Eh, he did alright I suppose; still isn't as gorgeous as I am

X

Finally time was up and though the Killer Bass had a decent looking hot-tub that Chris told them they could use after the fire-pit ceremony; they had still lost to the Screaming Gophers. Cody let out a sigh of relief; he wouldn't have to repeat this stupid challenge again!

**Camera Start**

Cody jumped when he heard a familiar voice break into his musings;

"I saw what you did on your little 'break'" Heather said slowly and Cody gulped before turning around and giving Heather a friendly, if nervous, grin.

"Hey I made up for it though; and at least the other team has a spare hot-tub if Owen breaks ours or something." Cody babbled nervously wondering what Heather was going to do to him.

The Queen bee did something unexpected and sighed, "Just don't help them _actually _win a challenge Nerd-linger, you're decent at this game and I'd hate to vote you off so early." Heather threatened and Cody merely laughed, honestly relieved Heather wasn't too mad at him.

As the Queen bee walked off neither of the 'Screaming Gophers' members noticed a certain coffee skinned CIT who had seen the entire conversation take place; a worm of guilt going through her stomach as she walked off to the mess-hall.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

**Confessional; Courtney:**

"I don't know what to do." Courtney said wringing her hands nervously, "That was nice of Cody to do that for me, but on the other hand he's pretty much is the reason my leadership made no different to result."

Courtney sighed looking a bit dismal. "He also probably hates me; since I didn't thank him for taking such a big risk for me."

XXXXXX

**Camera start**

"Obviously we should vote off one of the chickens, and if we have to lift up a truck I don't see princess here doing too much to help." A mohawked teen broke the tense silence on the 'Killer Bass' table.

A burst of panic shot through Courtney and she quickly tried to think of a way to put someone else on the spot as she saw her team considering Duncan's words. An idea struck her and Courtney smiled;

"Oh really? Because I remember helping us to actually get a hot-tub in the first place, we would've ended up with a bunch of scraps if it weren't for me. Meanwhile what did you do Duncan? …aside from, you know, getting in a fight with Geoff over a hammer of course." Courtney said confidently, she quickly marshalled her courage and continued. "Look at the other team, what got them through was trust and teamwork, (something you lack by the way Duncan) not just brute strength." Courtney said and seeing the entire team agree with her; Courtney finished. "So maybe you should be voted off to make things easier on us in future challenges!"

Duncan froze as she spoke and turned pale upon seeing the rest of the team agree with her, Duncan quickly tried to regain momentum, "Okay you got a point princess, but we would've worked together a lot better if we'd hadn't been hauling crates across the beach, something I helped out a lot with, and something that was also your fault!" Duncan shot back and gave a sigh of relief seeing the team now looking unsure of themselves.

"I just don't know why we lost eh? Their team has all the girls." Ezekiel said slowly puzzling over the idea in his head while pawing at his brown mush. Not noticing the temperature drop several degrees around him.

"What's. Wrong. About. That?" Bridgette ground out standing up and catching the attention of the 'Screaming Gophers' table.

"Well guys are stronger and better at sports then girls are." Ezekiel defended; his voice carrying easily across the cafeteria. Cody winced and knew that Ezekiel was sealing his fate and there wasn't anything Cody could do about it.

"My dad told me to watch out for the girls while I'm here so they don't hurt themselves and –**hurk.**"

"Still think we need help?!" Leshawna said picking up the boy by the throat. Cody sighed and pushed away his food not feeling hungry anymore. While everyone's attention was on the scene Ezekiel was causing the tech-geek slipped out.

**Camera End**

Cody stole his way across the camp to his cabin and pulled out his keyboard before setting it up quickly.

His fingers danced across the keys slowly and the stress he had melted away a bit; helping the tech-geek breathe easier.

Eventually he got into the music and started to play more and more advanced chords and melodies in his trance.

Suddenly a guitar chord rung through the cabin; making Cody yelp and fall off of his stool. Turning around Cody saw Trent had entered and was tuning his guitar.

"Oh? Don't mind me, I'm just getting ready to jam with ya," Trent said grinning easily, "Keep going man I like it!" Cody blushed before continuing his improve with Trent now joining in, their music quiet enough to not be noticed by the majority of the campers but a few of them caught the hints of music over the breeze.

XXXXXX

Eventually the pair finished playing and packed away the instruments. Trent spoke up sounding serious. "Ezekiel's gonna be voted off," he said and Cody sighed before nodding,

"Yeah, idiot was digging his own grave back there before I left… I don't even want to know what he said to try and defend himself." Cody said and Trent smiled sadly.

"Yeah, shame though; he seemed like a good enough kid, a bit weird but alright." Trent said slowly and Cody sighed again a painful memory forced its way into his head again.

"I really shouldn't be feeling this bad over him getting voted off," Cody said slowly before pausing, "I want to win you know so it's expected in the end, but it's the fact he's the **first** to go. I know what that's like you know? It was the worst thing ever, and I had friends who helped me through it."

"But Ezekiel doesn't and this is going on television." Trent finished and Cody sighed and nodded. "Well he's got you at least; so you can go cheer him up before he heads off the island." Trent offered and Cody perked up at that, nodding to himself Cody smiled up at Trent,

"You know what? I might just do that." Cody said happy to have something to do.

XXXXXX

Cody watched the campfire ceremony with interest; it was a sign of how much he had changed things that the campfire was going differently; hopefully for the better.

It was down to three competitors; Duncan, Courtney, and Ezekiel. All three were looking decidedly nervous. Cody's eyes widened upon seeing Duncan considered as likely to be voted off.

'_If something I did gets Duncan voted off I'll be a very happy camper'_ Cody thought to himself grinning.

Sadly for Cody Duncan was the first to get a marshmallow and gap-toothed teen's grin turned into a frown. It was down to a few tense moments where Cody's stomach churned guiltily at seeing the frozen terrified look on both Courtney's and Ezekiel's face.

"Courtney." Chris said and gave her the last marshmallow; Cody saw a flash of genuine hurt and humiliation go across Ezekiel's face before he slid on a blank mask and walked off to the dock of shame. Cody quickly stepped in his way after making sure everyone had stopped paying attention.

**Camera Start**

"Hey Zeke," Cody said softly and the home-schooled boy turned around; anger flashing on his face before it subsided upon recognising the gap-toothed teen.

"Oh, hey Cody." Ezekiel said softly as they walked to the dock, "Sorry but I got voted off; we won't be able to talk anymore." The home-schooled kid said and Cody smiled sadly at him.

"I know; but I just wanted to tell you that even though right now it may feel like the whole world is against you; I'm still your friend." Cody said slowly, and Ezekiel visibly brightened up at that.

"Really?" he asked quietly and Cody gave Ezekiel his patented gap toothed grin.

"Hell yeah! The Codemeisters still gotta show you his moves," Cody said and Ezekiel looked sad once again at the mention of women; Cody winced at his social misstep and said softly; "Hey man I know what you said isn't right; but nobody here hates you for it! I'm not gonna lie and say they think well of ya; but they're just angry right now, next time the competition starts up you could change that if you do well." Cody said and Ezekiel looked at Cody and nodded mutely.

"Hey guys you gonna sit out there all day?" The boat driver shouted and Cody's jaw dropped on hearing the familiar voice.

"David?" Cody said looking up at the intern, sure enough it was David; Cody's boat driver. David winced and glared at Cody though.

"Hey, hey! Keep it down will ya? They got cameras everywhere!" he said looking around the dock carefully.

"Sorry, I was just surprised you're the boat of l-… boat driver." Cody finished lamely catching himself just in time to not rub salt in Ezekiel's wound. Cody sighed before turning to the Home-schooled boy.

"Hey Ezekiel, you take care of yourself now. Try to get outside and socialise with other people more often so you learn to fit in next time; it'll work out I promised." Cody extended his fist and waited for a moment. Ezekiel gave him a pointed look that told him _'home-schooled remember?'_ and Cody blushed. "Right sorry; you bump my fist with yours. It's a greeting, goodbye, or congratulations thing guys do." Cody summed up and Ezekiel bumped his fist before boarding the boat of losers.

**Camera end**

Cody smiled sadly as he watched the boat of losers drive off with Ezekiel in tow. He had just enough time to wish the home-schooled boy well; before his abdomen burst into a familiar agony and Cody crashed down on the dock as everything turned dark…

XXXXXX

Boom! Another bites the dust!

Another one bites the dust; AW YEAH!

Another one bites the dust!

Another one bites the dust! Heyyyyyyyyy-

*cough*

Musical number aside this chapter was fun to write; hard to edit. I'm trying to keep my chapters fairly short so the work is so…. Overwhelming but it doesn't always work out.

Someone in the comments (*cough*NinjacreeperX*cough*) pointed out CIT stands for "Counsellor in training" so CIT in training is redundant.

THAT'S MILDLY EMBARRISING TO FIND OUT!

I apologise for the bipolar authors note f.y.i. its 2 in the morning and I've had far, far too much sugar. (Possibly why the editing was so difficult for me)

Another person in the comments asked why Chris is good and the producers evil? Well because Chris is just one guy, and I need more villains. Second; he isn't good persay; just not evil. Also on that note 11 freakin' comments!

HOLY COW GUYS! CALM DOWN I'VE ONLY DONE 4 CHAPTERS! Seriously every time I think about this story I get giddy at the reaction I'm getting from it.

Two last things now; almost done.

The CoCo moments are rather cute and I can't help myself from putting them in where they fit; but be warned that doesn't mean anything! I have "TheWriterFormerlyKnownasNixon" on my fav authors list (he exclusively writes Gwody one-shots) which says a lot, and I'm currently riding a very large HeCo phase as well!

Still though, those three girls are so cute on the show sometimes.

Finally…

…F**k.

I forgot.

…

Well this is awkward…

…Yeah… I'm just gonna leave awkwardly now… see you guys at the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5: Somnia

Cody awoke with a start; he was in a familiar bed staring up from his pillow. Cody let out a low groan and just barely managed to hold his lunch from being violently expelled before getting up. Cody then looked around.

He was in his cabin at camp Wawanakwa; he had finished the first challenge, and right now his stomach was burning like wildfire. Cody slammed his head into his pillow and let out a whimper as it felt like a thousand burning hot pins were being shoved into his abdomen. Ever so slowly the pain shifted until it felt like there was a line being formed on his stomach rather than a circle. Eventually the pain went away and Cody quickly and quietly walked out of the now silent cabin to the bathrooms.

Hurling his stomach's contents into the bathroom was about as pleasant as Cody thought it would be. Cody vaguely hoped he wouldn't throw up after completing every challenge or he'd start to have teeth problems. Sighing to himself the gap-toothed leant against the stall wall; he then lifted his shirt to see the damage and gasped at his scar.

Before it was two circles one inside the other, now it was a line inside a circle. The realisation hit Cody like a sack of bricks.

"It's a count." Cody said staring at his stomach like it had just sprouted an arm. Cody stared at the 1 emblazoned on his abdomen and sighed heavily. "What the hell is happening to me? Am… am I going insane?"

He had no answer for that. Sighing to himself Cody slipped quietly back into his cabin; his bunkmates still peacefully asleep. Checking the time and seeing it was only one in the morning; Cody fluffed up his pillow and drifted slowly off into sleep…

XXXXXX

_Cody found himself on a beach; it was sunset and the sun was casting brilliant rays upon the water, the waves cascading in a shower of brilliant colours; pinks, purples, blues, all reflected from the sky. It was as if the sun was giving the world a brilliant show before it finally disappeared below the horizon._

_The young boy sitting on the beach in front of Cody didn't seem notice or care about the spectacle that was nature unfolding in front of him. Instead he was preoccupied with a small drawing in the sand._

_It was a heart, with the words "Gwen+ Cody" emblazoned inside; the boy finished the last curve of the heart with a morose sigh._

"_Why won't you like me Gwen?" The Cody from the past asked himself; staring dismally into the horizon. A wave came up and washed away his drawing and both Cody's found themselves thinking it was a rather apt way of summing up Cody's situation._

_Cody from the future sat down next to his younger self and adopted a similar pose; staring off to the horizon and felt rather miserable._

_Suddenly the world twisted and he was falling in total pitch darkness. A familiar voice spoke up in his descent and Cody twisted around mid-air to come face to face with a giant Duncan._

"_She's mine pipsqueak; like there was ever any doubt, why would Gwen ever give a single shit about you?" Duncan jeered with a look of disgust on his face. Suddenly he shifted into Alejhandro with a sneer on his face,_

"_Hola mi amigo; aren't you in sad little state! Why what is a lovestruck lost little puppy like you doing here? Shouldn't you be off licking Gwen's boots?"_

_Cody only fell deeper into the pit and found himself in a courtroom like set up. He was sitting at a table with his hands chained together and a shadowy judge and Jury all sat above him; judging him, watching his every guilty movement. _

_A familiar face broke out of the darkness and Courtney screamed at him._

"_Why didn't you help me?! You JERK! You say you're such a sweet and loveable guy; yet where were you when I needed help? You're a million times worse than Duncan! At least he's willing to admit he's __**scum**__!"_

_The entire courtroom shifted as all the figures within the darkened upper stands cried out at once_

"_**GUILTY"**_

_Courtney let out a banshee like wail before flying into Cody who raised his hands in futile attempt to block the CIT in training from hurting him._

_Instead Cody now found himself in strange room. He was walking in thin air and arrayed all around him were the stars and planets of the galaxy. Cody spun around in place trying to absorb everything he could see in the place but every time he concentrated on one part of the galaxy another part of it caught his interest._

_Suddenly in his spinning Cody found himself face to face with his younger self from earlier. However there was one startling difference; his eyes were now two pits of black with yellow iris's glowering at Cody threateningly._

"_Win this day or repeat it a thousand times!"_

_Cody screamed and ran away from this terrifying visage only to slam into someone's chest and fall to the ground. Duncan picked up Cody by the collar and Cody found himself face to face with a familiar visage with one difference; Duncan's eyes were the same as Cody's doppleganger's._

"_Win this day or repeat it a thousand times!" 'Duncan' growled out. He then shoved the now terrified teen away and Cody ran as far as he could only to skid to a stop as Alejhandro and Courtney both walked up to him in a trance; their eyes a both familiar and haunting shade of yellow and black._

"_Win this day or repeat it a thousand times." The pair then vanished into smoke as Cody threw himself at the demonic teens out of sheer desperation._

_Cody whirled around the room terrified of what was next; in the sudden deafening silence all he could hear was the blood pounding in his ears. Cody then noticed a very important detail; all of the stars were slowly vanishing one by one. Suddenly as if him noticing the detail made it hasten; the stars all winked out, a wave of darkness spreading throughout the room._

_Suddenly submerged in a pure darkness Cody whimpered until he heard sobbing. Turning around Cody found a familiar goth girl crying into her hands facing away from him. A heart-broken expression formed on Cody's face and he walked up to Gwen slowly. Cody touched her shoulder lightly,_

"_Gwen it'll be okay I prom-" The Goth girl shrieked and suddenly whirled around. Her face was a mess with her eyes similar to the other campers in the dream; only instead of tears tracking down her face Gwen's eyes were oozing a black bubbling tar. She shrieked again and Cody screamed in fear as the Goth girl pounced upon him._

_Suddenly finding himself within darkness once again Cody lay on the 'ground' of where he was staring up. Unwilling to move and face whatever was next Cody sat there for what felt like months._

_Eventually two giant eyes opened up in the dark abyss above Cody and fanged mouth barred its horrifying teeth at Cody. The being appeared to enjoy what it was saying savouring; the words as they forced themselves into the now catatonic teen._

"_**Hiding is unbecoming of you.**__"_

XXXXXX

Cody awoke in a cold sweat, he got up and looked around his cabin wildly. Panic in his chest fading slowly as his adrenaline wore off. Cody sighed and looked at the clock he had put on the nightstand that had been crammed between bunk beds. A _4:00_ flashed on and off on the clock casting a red glow periodically over the gap-toothed teen's bed.

'_It was just a dream… but it felt so real!' _Cody again heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed his eyes tiredly; he shuddered and found his fingers wet.

'_Tears…. was I… crying?'_ Cody felt his face more to find that indeed he had been crying in his sleep. Feeling suitably mortified and embarrassed Cody looked down at his fingers only to feel all the blood rush from his face and his heart to slam down into his stomach.

Mixed in with the salt water; was a single drop of the black ooze from his dream.

Suddenly the cabin felt claustrophobic, wrong.

Everything was wrong.

Cody ran out of the cabin quietly as to not disturb the other campers while he had his minor breakdown. In his rush Cody never noticed a familiar goth girl standing on the porch of the cabins as he ran out into the camp woods.

XXXXXX

Cody sat and hugged his knees as he leaned against a sturdy pine tree. The teen stared at the ground in a nearly catatonic state as all the thoughts rushed through his head.

That was the worst nightmare he'd had in years; perhaps ever. Cody shuddered at the thought of being trapped in the darkness with whatever that yellow eyed monster was. Looking around the dark forest Cody whimpered before looking up at the moon.

Cody was never more thankful for something in his life. The teen found himself entranced at the beauty of a full moon; the yellow orb hanging in the sky providing a bit of basic light for the entire island. Suddenly an achingly familiar voice broke into his trance making Cody flinch violently;

"Beautiful isn't it?" Gwen said sitting next to the traumatised teen, "I draw sketches with the moon in them all the time. There's just something about it that excites me…" the gothic girl smiled at Cody who was still staring at the sky. "Wanna talk about it?" she asked uncertainly.

Cody turned his head and stared at Gwen; for a second he considered telling her everything; the time-travelling, how Duncan was going to turn both her and Courtney into horrible people eventually, how Alejhandro would manage to poison everything he touched, how insane this stupid show was, how the evil producers deserved a special place to rot in for a few years, but most importantly…

…how scared Cody was of the supernatural and the darkness right now.

But that second passed and Cody gave a sardonic chuckle; "You wouldn't believe me if I did," he said slowly looking back at the sky. The Goth girl was undeterred and gave off a laugh that was music to the Cody's ears.

"Try me; you'll never know till you do!" Gwen smiled at the gap-toothed teen.

"I'm a time traveller." Cody said suddenly and Gwen cocked an eyebrow at the gap-toothed teen,

"Really?" she asked slowly sounding slightly unsure;

"Naw; I'm just shitting you." Cody said; a wry smile forming upon his lips. "It's just a bad dream I had. I felt sick, like the cabin was too closed in for me." Gwen sighed and leant back against the same tree as Cody.

"Well I can tell you I know how that feels; Sometimes I feel like the world is too closed in, like its holding some part of me back." Gwen said slowly and Cody felt the stirrings of interest inside of him. Gwen never told him about this part of her the first time around.

The gothic girl blushed at the gap-toothed teen's sudden attention on her and looked away pointedly. "You probably think I'm arrogant or something…"

Cody grinned easily, "No please I'm getting interested now;" Cody said earnestly; he then looked away smiling "Plus it's a helpful distraction from the claustrophobia."

Gwen smiled at Cody before shaking her head, "Sorry; it's a little personal for me to tell someone I barely know." Cody smelt an opportunity and took it with alacrity.

"Hiya I'm Cody; nerd, gamer, musician, and possibly the most well-travelled explorer of the 'friend-zone' you'll ever find!" he said grinning and mock bowed before Gwen "pleased to meet you!"

The irony of telling Gwen that was not lost on Cody.

The goth girl rolled her eyes but was helpless to stop a smiling from spreading on her face; "Well then 'Cody of the friendzone', you'll be saddened to hear that I'm still not telling." She teased lightly and Cody pouted,

"Daw, give me a taste and leave me hanging why don't ya." Cody said in mock sadness before sighing and dropping the act.

"…Thanks, by the way, for coming out here." He said slowly and Gwen smiled at him.

"Well you looked like you needed someone; and there was nobody else around to help you." Gwen said a little shyly. Cody felt a bit of hope blossom in his chest and both futilely and ruthlessly quashed it down.

They stayed like that for the rest of the night; chatting amiably and laughing together.

It was enough to make Cody forget about the nightmares, the supernatural, and the show for a while. For that night he wasn't a time-travelling nerd plagued by nightmares and a board of villains; he was just a geeky teen talking to the girl of his dreams.

XXXXXX (One week later)

Cody sighed into his mush; tomorrow was the date of the 'Awakathon' and Cody had made sure he was prepared.

The campers had a week to make friends, get used to camp Wawanakwa and prepare themselves mentally for the next challenge. Cody had taken to jogging and exercising across the camp to regain the wiry fit frame he'd had at the end of season 3. Say what you like about the affects TDI had on teenagers it got them fit; unfortunately by time travelling Cody had lost any muscles or fitness he'd had before and was now back to be being just a scrawny boy; so he'd taken to exercise.

He'd also been chatting up Gwen, Trent, and surprisingly enough; Heather, over the past few days. Trent and Cody were also possibly were the best friends on the island so far (not counting Katie and Sadie of course); both of them had similar passions and likes, and both had fairly active senses of humour.

Gwen and Cody had an odd relationship; aside from the first night together Gwen had been fairly private and alone for most of the week. So for the most part it was Cody who'd initiate chats and joked around with Gwen; they'd talk about art, life, and an odd amount of philosophy. Cody couldn't help a small burst of pride at thinking how much better he was doing, Gwen wise, this run through.

Finally Heather and Cody built up an odd rapport; it'd started when Cody kept bugging and prodding Heather into civil conversation and most of her insults had no bite to them anymore. Cody was still cautious around the queen bee; knowing how intelligent and manipulative she could be helped the gap-toothed geek reign in his usual naivety.

Finally Cody noticed something odd; his skin had turned a few tones lighter after his nightmare. It was an odd thing to notice but after the ooze scare he'd had; Cody wanted to check to make sure his eyes were normal. It wasn't a major deal so Cody wrote it off as some weird time-travelling thing.

Finally Cody had been smuggling a stash of caffeine and energy drinks in his cabin he could scull after the jogging they would have to do in the morning. Cody grinned to himself; this challenge was one where he could completely dominate after some preparations.

XXXXXX

Timeskips suck and I will avoid them as best as I can.

That being said this timeskip was unfortunately in canon; I'm watching the first episodes of TDI as I write these (currently finished to dodgebrawl one to keep in pace with the story) I also…maybe…haven't…ever**...watched**…. TDI…

Look I read a lot of fanfiction on it! And I have the characters down! ...yeah I know that's pretty bad to make an AU off of a 'Lore' that I'm not confident with.

Anyway digression aside; point is Gwen states in confession "when I first saw that Turkey feast after a week of slop-

"A week of slop" but the first challenge happened on their first evening! So that means there were at least 5 days of nothing we missed. From what I can tell Cody started to get his infatuation with Gwen here since he cops a ball to the groin in dodgebrawl for her, for no readily apparent reason.

Thought about putting the actual 'Awakathon' in here but I decided against it since this was a natural chapter break. Also anyone excited about the supernatural part of this story starting to get rolling? I know I am! (Even though I don't quite know where it's going yet.) Hopefully Cody's nightmare was actually a bit creepy and not overdone; I wanted it to feel like a real dream, and a little bit like the opening sequence of Kingdom Hearts (one of the best dream sequences ever in my opinion).

I also put in some Gwody interaction here cause I figured since I've include HeCo and CoCo interaction I may as well be fair. Though be warned, I'm not some pansy ass writer who goes with a harem ending or no romance. Cody can get burned romance wise, and the relationships are not set in stone. Though to be honest I mostly let the characters write themselves with me only putting directions on their interactions.

The dream sequence and Gwen comforting Cody? All spur of the moment decisions I think are gonna pay off big time as this fic goes on; but that being said, everything in the dream represents something. I'll let you guys try and puzzle out the symbolism on your own; but if you have a guess in the comments and want to know what they mean to me I'll happily tell you.

As hint the only bits that symbolise things you don't know about are the yellow eyes, and the star room which turned dark. You can all have guesses on what they are; but I'll confirm nothing on those two!

ONWARDS! TO PART TWO!111!111!1!1!11! … !111!11

…

!111!

*cough* (I'm not funny)


	6. Chapter 6: Insomnia

Someone mentioned (Bellyacher) in the comments that I don't mention Sierra that often… and I honestly am not going to; she doesn't play any role till season 3 in canon and unless she is directly harassing Cody she isn't really on his mind that often. So yeah.

As for the time constraints (Randompandaattack) eh; I prefer the week thing since it gives Cody more time to adjust; the time-skip wasn't too big a deal and gives a good pace to the relationships in the next few episodes (in canon) and my next phew chapters

Finally Only one guy guessed what the symbolism was in last chapter D: dawwww; well I guess I'll unravel it a bit. (Granted this is more Authors intention in symbolism and if you drew different ideas from the dream I'd love to hear them!)

The sun is Cody's optimism and cheer; it's currently at sunset since Cody is right now feeling depressed and isn't usually to cheery and optimistic. However in my opinion that balance is the best one to strike and Cody from season 1 had a really hot and unpleasant mid-day sun whereas Cody in my AU of season 3 would've been at a freezing cold night time.

The judge and jury judging Cody is simultaneously the audience watching Cody and judging his actions; and the producers of the show, on watch for any suspicious behaviour. Them declaring Cody 'Guilty' is showing how he blames himself along with Courtney screaming at him.

Gwen represented Cody's affection for her poisoning his chances and opportunities throughout TDI which kinda ties in with the ooze bubbling from her eyes.

Giant Duncan and Alejhandro should be obvious; they are his self-doubts and regrets. Finally the yellow eyes and star lit room and the ooze from Gwen's eyes…

They are the only ones that have definite meanings; you guys shouldn't know what they mean just yet and nobody has guessed it so far.

XXXXXX

It was a lovely morning on camp Wawanakwa… well as lovely as a morning can be in the dismal, freezing, and polluted camp.

The birds were singing, the sun was out giving off a few rays of warmth, and there was a gentle breeze upon the air that kept the air from sitting still too long.

The cheerful morning was then disturbed with a loud air-horn going off; the already offensive sound made worse by the megaphone Chris pointed it in.

"Do I look like a f**king farmer to you Chris?!"A familiar voice screamed out at the host.

Ah yes, the 'lovely' mood of a teenager freshly awoken at 6 in the morning; it seemed the TDI editors had work to do!

XXXXXX

Cody was jolted awake as the air horn went off. The gap-toothed teen exhaled slowly as he heard Leshawna screaming at Chris from her cabin. Cody remained lying in bed as the rest of the males in his cabin all got up and started to go through their morning routines.

Cody sometimes well and truly hated mornings.

**Camera Start**

The campers eventually assembled out in front of Chris and the cheery host began giving them their fake challenge. Cody yawned and barely paid attention to the speech as he tried to stay awake. Eventually the campers were given the signal to run and Cody moved forward at a light jog; wanting to get back in time for a shower and to drink his 'boosts' before the feast.

Surprisingly enough Cody spotted a familiar brunette running ahead of him and he scowled. Courtney was not on his 'nice list' after last challenge. Cody sighed before letting go of the past; it wouldn't do to hold a grudge…

'_Though, I won't be giving her a hand like that again' _Cody thought as his normally kind teal eyes hardened. Cody eventually managed to overtake the CIT and was about to go past her when she spoke up.

"Hey Cody; uh… could you jog with me for a second?" Courtney asked sounding a lot more nervous than usual. Cody shrugged; though he was a bit suspicious he relented and slowed down to the CIT's pace. Courtney stared at Cody out of the corner of her eye for a few seconds before beginning.

"I wanted to thank you for giving me those eye drops on the last challenge… they really helped." Courtney said slowly "If it weren't for you we probably wouldn't even have a hot-tub to use so uh… thanks!" Courtney's eyes then widened as if she forgot something "Oh yeah! And I'm sorry I snapped at you like I did; I wasn't having a good day and I was worried about getting voted off so yeah... can you forgive me?" Courtney asked as she turned to look at Cody as they jogged waiting for the gap-toothed teen's response.

"Wow Court, I honestly wasn't expecting that," Cody said grinning, "Of course it's fine, as long as you apologised for it!" Cody smiled shyly, "I, uh… I'm also glad you got use out those eye-drops."

Courtney smiled and was about to reply when she tripped over an exposed root; Cody seeing her begin to fall tried to grab her only to get pulled down by her momentum.

The pair of brunettes fell in a pile of limbs and Cody opened his eyes only to find his head wedged between a pair of…

Cody couldn't stop the grin on his face even if he tried, depressed about Gwen or not, time-traveler or not, the only thing that Cody thought was…

'_sooooooffft'_

Courtney got up off Cody with a blush; the CIT in training brushed off her clothing and looked down at the still dazed Cody and her blush intensified.

Cody, not one to miss out on a golden opportunity, propped himself up on his elbows and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Wow Court; didn't think you'd want to thank me _that _much!" Cody grinned up at her only for his cheeks to puff out comically; as the brunette stepped on his abdomen.

She wasn't pressing down hard enough to seriously hurt a normal person; but she was pressing down right on Cody's brand.

"Arghh Courtney STOP!" Cody cried out and Courtney jumped back from the boy; worried she'd hurt him.

"Sorry! I was just joking around and-" She began and Cody held up a hand,

"I… *puff* know… I got a scar there and that area is still really sore." Cody explained getting up and holding his stomach. "It's cool, you didn't know after all." He finished; giving the crestfallen CIT in training a thumbs up. Cody honestly didn't mind too much; season 3 Courtney would've only pushed harder so Cody wouldn't be able to compete against her and the fact the CIT was only worried for Cody showed how much he'd improved things.

"I'm sorry… I just wanted to thank-you and now I've actually seriously hurt you and-" Cody cut her off again.

"Jesus Court; disregard what I say completely why don't ya!? I said it's alright didn't I? You didn't know I was sore there and you apologised, we're cool!" Cody said and Courtney smiled tenderly at the nerdy teen. She offered the still limping geek her arm and helped him walk.

"Besides…" Cody continued a smirk on his face knowing he was going to pay for this one; "it was totally worth being stepped, just to motorboat those t-"

This time Courtney punched Cody on the arm and didn't hold back.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

Cody couldn't help but feel extremely satisfied with himself as he sat next to Courtney in the mess hall. The teams were currently inter-mingled and were all recovering in some way from the jog.

After having a pleasant chat with the CIT in training and arriving back at camp; the pair parted ways temporarily while Cody sculled a bunch of energy drinks and took a shower before re-joining the CIT in the cafeteria where they currently sat.

Cody was currently talking to the CIT lightly when the door burst open and Owen flew through carrying an exhausted Noah like a sack of potatoes.

"Someone clear a table!"

Harold arrived next dead on his feet as Courtney got up from her spot and chewed him out. Cody rolled his eyes at his partner for the challenge and leant back against the wall; smiling quietly to himself.

Chris chose that moment to roll in and announce the second part of the challenge. As he unveiled the turkey feast the campers all drooled and immediately went for the food.

**Camera start**

Cody smiled tiredly at the buffet before looking down at the slop he had on his tray. Sighing to himself and mentally reminding himself that it was for the good of the challenge Cody continued to eat.

Courtney meanwhile looked down at her new friend and raised an eyebrow.

"Um, you still gonna finish that slop even though there's a perfectly good buffet in front of you?" she asked slowly and Cody grinned up at her.

"Nah, more for Owen that way-" _'-and I'm hoping that the extra food stops him from eating that bean dish again' _Cody added mentally before continuing "Sides, I've had so much of it I think I'm getting a taste for chef's cooking; it isn't that bad…" Cody looked down at the unidentifiable mush on his plate. "Really!" he said grinning haphazardly.

The CIT shrugged before heading off the buffet to join her team; Cody sighed mournfully after her and rubbed his forehead. _'What made her change after season 1? And how do I keep stoping it?'_ Cody wondered and rubbed his forehead tiredly.

He then looked down at his meal before continuing to eat it; never noticing a certain dark-skinned chef watching him from the cafeteria kitchen in shock.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

Cody yawned tiredly as he chugged his last energy drink before walking outside to join the campers; light jog or not, turkey feast or not, the early wake up was taking its toll on the tech-geek. Luckily (or perhaps **un**luckily) for Cody; he felt the stirrings of energy inside him as the caffeine started to kick in.

Cody sat next to Beth before leaning back against the wall preparing himself for a boring few nights; Cody watched amusedly as Justin stood up with his eyelids painted and then chuckled as Courtney started to jog in place slowly.

**Camera Start**

It was after a few hours of controlled dozing and keeping his eyes half open when Cody's eyes shot open. His pupils dilated and this time a very non-bitter and rather crazed grin came upon his face. He turned to the person next to him and unfortunately for Beth it was her.

"HI BETH!" Cody shouted as the caffeine rush only grew stronger, the nerdy girl took one look at Cody and blushed heavily.

"H-hi Cody, what-"

"Your face is red! Oh-no!" Cody's words began to blur together as last vestiges of dignity, common-sense, and depression he had were mentally thrown out of his head by the caffeine; leaving Cody in a rather-

"Areyousick?Areyouok?Doyouneedmedicine?Iamalicenseddoctorafterall!nowaitnoI'mnot!OHGODyocoulddieandIcan'thelpyou!"

-hyperactive state of mind. The unfortunate boy laid a hand on Beth's forehead and the now heavily blushing girl couldn't take it anymore and fainted with a dazed grin. On screen the Screaming gopher's counter dropped from nine to eight.

Cody shrieked as Beth fell over and was about to perform CPR when a familiar slender hand shot out and grabbed Cody by the collar. Heather dragged the hyperactive boy from his spot before he could even touch the poor nerdy girl and Cody started to choke and struggle wildly.

Eventually Heather stopped and turned around; a rather non-plussed expression on her face as Cody started to breathe heavily and roll around after being let go.

"Okay what's up with you nerd-linger? You're acting-"

"OH HI HEATHER!" Cody burst out as if he just noticed the queen bee standing there. Had Cody not been so hyperactive from drinking far too many energy drinks; he would have noticed the telling vein on Heather's forehead that would've warned him to be very, very careful with his next choice of words. "hahathat'scoolyou'restillwearingthesameshirtasalways!OOHdidn'titgettornoffinachallengeandeveryonesawyourboobs?!HA-HA BOOBIES!" Cody was now on all fours like an animal and flung himself at Heather.

Heather was still trying to translate whatever the hell Cody just said when his final words rang through her head and the queen bee's anger finally reached boiling point. Just as the hyperactive teen launched himself at Heather her fist slammed out right onto the teens head and Cody was sent straight into the ground; completely unconscious.

Unfortunately for Cody his antics distracted Trent enough that he never made his attempt to sweet-talk Gwen; which meant Gwen eventually fell asleep out of boredom and the Screaming Gophers lost the challenge.

Cody was voted off almost immediately and the gap-toothed teen found himself fuming at the edge of the dock of shame. How the hell could he forget caffeine's most famous effects?!

XXXXXX

Cody awoke the night before the challenge the same way he usually did; his brand burning like it was being rebranded all over again. This time he managed to hold in his lunch but still had to scream into his pillow as his seal burnt him the same way it always did.

The day went the same way as it did the day before; Cody listening to Courtney's apology and happily accepting her apology before being introduced to the CIT's magni- *achem* breasts.

Finally Cody found himself at the point where he'd gotten himself eliminated and stared at the energy drinks innocently sitting underneath his bed. Sighing to himself and consigning himself to the fact he'd have to take a risk Cody grabbed the two six packs he had under his bed and dragged them with him to the Awakathon.

XXXXXX

**Camera start**

This time Cody sat on the edge of his team's side and was next to a certain CIT when she noticed his 'advantage'. The mocha coloured teen turned to Cody with an accusing stare and Cody gave her the most cheerful innocent grin he could muster; it didn't work.

"Chris! Cody's chea-" Cody grabbed Courtney and slapped a hand over her mouth, before she could finish that damning sentence.

"HAH! FUNNY COURTNEY! THAT WAS A VERY FUNNY **JOKE** YOU TOLD!" the CIT struggled furiously underneath Cody's grip and he hissed with equal ferocity into her ear. _"I will give you a couple; just __**shut the hell up**__!"_

Cody then let go and Courtney glared at him before noticing everyone staring at her; she blushed heavily and sighed before saying in a completely unconvincing voice.

"Haha! Yeah a joke; sorry guys." Courtney smiled innocently whilst Cody surreptitiously nudged the six packs further behind his tree-stump with his foot.

X

**Confessional: Heather;**

"Okay what the hell? Why are those two always working together? They're obviously hiding something and Cody could easily get kicked off for cheating." Heather then rolled her eyes at what her pretend audience asked next "Of course their cheating it's obvious…" Heather paused "…Still as long as Cody is smart enough to give us the slight advantage he can keep his little girlfriend safe from elimination…" Heather's eyes shot open and she slammed a fist into her hand as she realised what Cody's 'angle' was.

**Confessional: Duncan;**

"Now I'm not planning on pulling an Ezekiel right now but-" Duncan eyed the bathroom suspiciously with his arms crossed. "-girls are freaking weird sometimes: and dorkus there might as well be a girl himself so it's no surprise **he's **weird too."

**Confessional: Lindsay;**

"Gosh; I wonder what the joke Courtney told was?"

X

Luckily for the pair; their teams and Chris eventually passed it off as sleep deprivation and returned to what they were doing before. Cody and Courtney both retreated back a little and Courtney was a tad peeved.

"What. The. Hell Cody!" she hissed furiously similarly to how the gap-toothed teen in question had before. "Are you _trying_ to get us kicked off for being weird?" Cody grinned knowing Heather had unwittingly going to save Courtney from elimination when she picked up Eva's mp3 player earlier.

"Don't worry! I got a plan for that too; you're team's going to take a hit but I got it all worked out." He said quietly, looking back at the group of sleep deprived teens; they already had dark circles under their eyes. "Someone else is gonna take the fall and probably save you guys a lot of furniture while we're busy looking awesome for being neck in neck for the challenge."

Courtney raised an eyebrow at Cody who grinned, this time a tad bit deviously; her eyes shot open and she glared at Cody.

"Eva is our strongest competitor." She said evenly not showing her annoyance with the tech-geek. However Cody shook his head at that,

"She's actually your weakest; her anger issues are driving a wedge with the girl's cabin already and she needs to be eliminated for your team to cooperate. Duncan can make up for the physical aspects of the game. You'll still have the most physically fit person in the camp" Cody explained; Courtney paused at that before two questions sprang to mind.

"How do you know this? Are you spying on the girl's cabin?" she demanded and Cody paled at the damning accusation before holding up his hands in surrender quickly.

"No! God no! I don't want to be kicked off on round two" _'again'_ Cody mentally added. "I just have my sources that will remain nameless for their sake" _'Me; and I don't want to be sent to a psyche ward for thinking I'm a time traveller._'

"Okay then how is Eva gonna take the fall?" Courteny asked finally after deciding Cody was probably telling the truth. Cody merely grinned and motioned over to Heather; sensing another golden opportunity he couldn't resist the chance to joke. "Well I've been staring at Heather's ass and I-"

"Perv!" Courtney muttered surprisingly non-violent to the tech-geek. Cody raised an eyebrow at Courtney,

"Huh thought you'd hit me for that; well in all seriousness when Heather went for a stretch she actually picked up Eva's mp3; factor in Eva's temper and boom instant time-bomb." Courtney frowned and looked at Heather's back pocket, sure enough she saw a familiar device sticking out a little. Cody grinned at whispered in her ear, "Hah! Now you're staring too; didn't know you swung that wa-" Courtney cut the unusually cheerful and devious tech-geek off with a well-placed elbow to his side.

"I thought she wanted us to lose the competition? Why would she help us?" Courtney asked while Cody groaned comically trying to look more hurt than he was. Seeing a distinct lack of pity he sighed and straightened up before answering.

"She isn't, or at least she doesn't realise it. She doesn't know how tense Eva is making the girls in Killer-bass so as far as she knows she's eliminating your strongest competitor."

"But we make up for it with Duncan and Tyler." Courtney said slowly seeing where Cody is going with it.

"Right! And now for the kicker! With these," Cody motioned over to the energy drinks, "We look really good to our teams for staying on for ages. Meaning your leadership is strengthened, I'm noticed once again for being useful for the team. We both get more influence in the group; though Duncan and Gwen will probably win it in the end since caffeine or no, we're both not good at staying up late."

Courtney was now matching Cody's grin, before a thought came across her mind. "Wait then you giving me the eye-drops wasn't you just being nice?" Courtney looked now a little unsure and Cody paused in honest thought.

Cody wondered to himself; was that Cody unconsciously manipulating Courtney? This idea of cheating on the challenge and making deals like this was unlike Cody but he was actually surprisingly good at being a bit… Heather-ish

"I don't **think** so; I mean I kinda just saw you looking miserable and a little silly with that swollen eye; so I figured, 'hey why not give her a hand?'" Cody admitted slowly, before smiling, "I'm glad I did though; now I have someone I can plot with!" Cody mock evil laughed and rubbed his hands together.

Courtney rolled her eyes but couldn't ignore the little bubble of relief in her chest at the tech-geek's admission. "Whatever… still this isn't like you to be so… calculated…"

'_Try waking up in 4 the morning from feeling like your stomach is being branded and not be a bit drastic and harder than usual.' _Cody answered mentally before sighing. "I know and I feel kinda bad for Eva… then I remember her dropping a set of dumbbells on my foot and not even apologising for it and I feel a bit better about it. 'Sides I'm helping more people this way so it evens out karmatically… I think…"

Courtney rolled her eyes before settling in next to the tech-geek; she looked over to Trent and Gwen who were talking animatedly to one another.

"So then; 'amazing plan' aside wanna talk about something more relaxing?" she asked and Cody relaxed back into his more quiet, kind, persona. He smiled lightly at the mocha coloured CIT and replied,

"Sure; got anything specific in mind?" Cody grinned easily at his newfound friend and Courtney returned it. It was enough to make Cody feel a spark of hope for the future;

Maybe just maybe; he was going to save Courtney from turning into the crazed, bitter person she had become end of season 3.

Maybe.

XXXXXX

Phew! I was unsure of what to write for this challenge; the CoCo scene of Cody falling with Courtney just happened and the first attempt at the Awakathon Cody had; was also my first attempt. I then figured I could play the hyper-Cody joke and also keep the time-travelling thing fresh in everyone's minds so he got eliminated and 'reset'.

I hope Cody wasn't too OOC with his 'evil' plan. It is more him getting revenge on Eva and keeping Courtney from busting him or his team but I also realised that Cody isn't a super-soldier, a ninja, or anything beyond a nerdy teen; and the agony of his brand would actually have a larger psychological effect on him than I initially realised; so boom Cody becomes a bit more desperate to win challenges.

Still I'll have him do a lot more "Cody-like" things to make up for it in later chapters to even out this chapter; I think so far he's also been pretty in character even with big change I made to how he perceived things in seasons 3.

Also I hope the tone change from the last chapter wasn't **too** jarring; I wanted to lighten things up from the last chapter and also present a clear juxtaposition in the story. TDI and its normal events are more light-hearted and humorous whereas the supernatural events are more horror-themed and serious.

It'll make a clear difference with the two worlds Cody has a foot in now and it'll make the two worlds colliding all the more climatic. If it happens that is.

Courtney is also a lot nicer and less challenge driven then she was first time around; half because she wasn't close to getting voted off first this time; and half because she doesn't feel as isolated as she did last season; meaning she also isn't as susceptible to Duncan…

Yeah sorry I still don't like the guy; I can see why he did what he did in season 3 but it doesn't change the fact he cheated on someone who genuinely loved him. Don't care how charming, cool, or strong you are, you're a cunt for doing that; no matter your excuse.

Finally we got some f**king **HEAVY** CoCo action going on right now; not sure where I want to go with it since I'm more of a Heather person myself- (What can I say I'm a sucker for female villains…) -but Courtney and Cody just keep writing themselves for me. I was initially planning on mirroring Trent and Gwen with Heather and Cody but you know how the first draft went so yeah. Plus it's hard to write Heather and Cody interaction without repeating the first scene of them bantering again; it'll get repetitive and boring so that'll take time to develop.

Anyway as I write this; this is the latest chapter I have in the works so I got a lotta writing to do tonight/tomorrow to build up another base of chapters to edit so I can easily do a final proof-read before posting them.

Ciao~!

Oh yeah forgot to mention this is the biggest chapter so far with a word count of 4,000! Woot! It's also slightly under-edited at the latter half of it so I apologise in advance for any grammar mistakes at the end of it. Just yell at me and point out anything that's really broken in comments as per usual! :D


	7. Chapter 7: Insomnia II

XXXXXX (Four hours into the challenge; 4:00 pm)

**Camera start**

It was now four hours into the challenge, Owen had passed out marking the first person to fall and Cody and Courtney were now having a full blown conversation. Much to the tech-geeks pleasant surprise he was actually really enjoying himself too.

"-So that's why I decided I wanted to become a counsellor." Courtney finished her story only to find Cody mock snoring next to her. A vein throbbed on the CIT's forehead and she shoved Cody off his stump; the geek landed with a satisfying thud on the ground.

"Ow! Fine, fine, ease up I was just kidding around." Cody said though he couldn't stop the grin on his face from appearing. "I couldn't resist making the joke." Courtney was still mad however,

"It was a personal story I was telling! The least you could do was listen!" she cried out genuinely angry and hurt; Cody winced. The teen looked past Courtney and saw Duncan sniggering at a sleeping Owen as the boy rolled over Noah. It felt like an icicle was jammed into his chest as Cody couldn't help but feel that this was something Duncan would do; or probably actually did the first time around. Cody spoke up to Courtney who was still flushed with anger and embarrassment.

"Hey, I was just joking around Court. I was listening, you told me about your second psychology teacher and how your parents supported you in what felt like the first time in a long while!" Cody summarised as he propped himself up on his elbows. "I wouldn't ever tune you out like that!" Cody said smiling at the CIT. Courtney harrumphed and turned away from Courtney though Cody noticed her embarrassed flush had gone down. He grinned and decided to play along.

"Aw come on Court don't be like that!" Cody said grabbing a bit a grass from the dirt. He quietly walked up to the CIT who still wasn't looking at him and he gave a fake heave of disappointment. "Come on we're partners aren't we?" Cody saw the corner of Courtney's mouth twitch and Cody felt the last doubts about his plan fade away; she was just stringing Cody along for compliments now!

Cody crept up behind Courtney and then lunged.

"SNEAK ATTACK!" Cody yelled; pulling back Courtney's shirt collar and shoving a handful of grass down her top.

"CODY!" the CIT shrieked feeling the cold blades of grass all over her back. She jumped off her stool and jumped around and fidgeted trying to get rid of the grass in her shirt. Cody was too busy laughing when Courtney threw her own fistful of grass right into his mouth and the tech-geek started cough and spluttering out.

"Ew… Courtney! Not cool; I betcha that had bear poop or something in it!" Cody said spitting out and sticking his tongue out.

"It's my rightful revenge." Courtney corrected sniffily; though she unable to hide the grin on her face.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX (14 hours in the challenge; 2:00 am)

**Camera start**

A sigh rent through Cody as he leant against the tree stump; his eyes now had rather large bags under them and even with the boost of caffeine he was feeling more than a little tired. The tech-geek looked over to Courtney and saw she was in a similar state; the CIT then spoke.

"Alright… um… favourite colour?" she asked blushing at the typical question. Cody rolled his eyes good-naturedly and chuckled.

"Geez Court; showing a lot of imagination with **that** question." Cody quipped grinning and Courtney mock scowled at the tech-geek.

"Well too bad answer it anyways! …and give me a break it's been twelve hours now since this stupid challenge started." Courtney retorted and motioned over to the other campers.

Owen was still sleeping peacefully, Justin still hadn't been caught with his pained eyelids, and Harold was dozing off right as Courtney spoke. The other campers weren't in great shape either; only Gwen, Trent, Heather, and Duncan were looking remotely awake at the moment aside from the pair of brunettes.

Cody turned back to Courtney and saw her staring at Cody with her hands crossed sitting up from her tree-stump.

"Ah fine; hmmm…" Cody scratched his chin in thought. "My favourite colour used to be teal, now its grey." He said simply, Courtney raised an eyebrow.

"Teal? Cause of your eyes?" Courtney asked and Cody blushed before scratching the back of his neck self-consciously.

"Yeah; now I prefer Grey though since it doesn't say much about the person with it. No assumptions, social responsibilities, it doesn't have to do anything… it's just… there." Cody said a tad bit wistfully; thinking about how it felt like the world was weighing on his shoulders with the game-show and the time-travelling. Courtney leant back against her tree stump before shrugging.

"Huh, I didn't think you'd be the type to dream about freedom." Courtney said staring up at the sky. She then looked back the tech geek sitting opposite to her something unidentifiable in her eyes; "Your turn."

"Hmmm; what's home like? I mean back at where you live?" Cody asked hoping he wasn't pushing it too far with this particular question. However Courtney wilted a bit at the question and Cody quickly added; "You don't have to answer if you don't want to-"

"Nah it's fine; just a bit tiresome to remember actually." Courtney said holding her knees and staring at the ground. "There's a lot of pressure back there; I had to get good marks, I had to be popular, I had to be pretty, I had to be successful. It sometimes felt like everyone demanded a piece of me and I was getting stretched thin. Then I saw the ads for this show and I figured 'hey a vacation! And I can actually go on it since my parents will hear about the million dollars and a chance to be on T.V. and be satisfied with that!'" Courtney sighed heavily. "I shouldn't complain about them too much; they care so much about me it's just… they also want a lot from me too."

Cody didn't know what drove him to do what he did next; maybe it was seeing a chance at helping Courtney, maybe it was seeing how sad the CIT looked, maybe it was just sleep deprivation.

Whatever the case Cody sidled up next to Courtney and she rested her head against Cody's shoulder. Cody blushed at the very intimate contact when Courtney spoke.

"Say something stupid and I **will** hit you in the balls." She threatened recognising the thoughts running through Cody's head.

A little put out at being caught Cody mock pouted. "Aw come on; Now I want to make a dumb pervy joke even more!" he chuckled before pulling himself closer to Courtney "In all seriousness thanks for telling me that; it sounds pretty personal and…" he trailed off for a moment, before he rested his head on hers and the pair sat together in very intimate contact.

"Thanks." Cody finished.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

_Two yellow eyes and a fanged mouth leered out of the darkness at him; the voice that echoed at him seemed to ripple with amusement at the words exiting it._

"**Hiding is unbecoming of you."**

_Everything shifted and he found himself in an open field that seemed to stretch for miles. He could see everything. _

_He could pick and identify every single blade of grass, every miniscule atom of dirt, everything; the longer he stared at the various things around him the deeper they went into detail. His vision zoomed in and he found himself seeing a blade of grass, then the various bits of dirt and miniscule tears on it; then the atoms that made it up his vision went deeper still beyond what physics deemed possible until he realised he was screaming in agony._

_He fell to his knees and raised his hands to his eyes as agonising pain shot through them; he looked down upon his hands and saw they were covered in familiar black ooze. Light built up from him his palms suddenly and two beams of light shot out into his own face._

XXXXXX

Cody awoke with a start; he was back at his cabin… flashing over his head was a familiar red 4:00. The tech-geek sighed as he ran through the nightmare again in his head… _'Something just isn't right about those eyes.' _Cody thought to himself. He then got up and saw that Trent was snoozing off in his bunk.

'_I must've passed out with Courtney… Trent being here means the challenge must be over…'_

Cody felt his face and moisture on his face told him all needed to know; _'this nightmare was just like the other one…'_

'_Time to go see what new freakish thing has happened to me,' _Cody thought to himself as he quietly crept into the bathroom. When he entered it though Cody stopped mid-step and stared at the mirror facing the door his fists clenched and he turned on the sink; he started to scrub furiously at his face intent on getting rid of every trace of damnable dream. It wasn't natural! Why the hell…

Why the hell were his eyes leaking out that damn black ooze!?

XXXXXX

Cody stared up at his reflection.

He'd been washing his face for… a while… looking out the window Cody saw light and dimly realised at least an hour had passed with him scrubbing his face raw.

He still had two pools of darkness underneath his eyes; even when he'd gone through the 'awakathon' Cody hadn't had eye bags this bad.

Though they were thinner; the bags under his eyes were now a very dark inky black and seemed to give his eyes more definition. They weren't thin enough to look like eyeliner but they were close.

Suddenly his brand started to itch underneath his clothes and where normally Cody would've been glad it was somehow shifting without burning him like usual; now he was just scared of the fact so many changes were happening to him and he didn't know what to do.

What the hell was happening to him?!

XXXXXX

Courtney awoke in a similar fashion as a Cody. Courtney sat up and hugged her knees thinking about a certain gap-toothed tech geek before going over the night's events.

Eva had been voted off by the campers after throwing a tantrum over her mp3 before Heather 'innocently' gave it back. The CIT swore to keep an eye on the self-proclaimed queen bee before another thought occurred to her.

They had now lost two challenges because of a certain gap-toothed nerd.

Cody had cost them two team members while the screaming gophers had yet to lose one.

Hadn't she come here to win a million dollars and get away from her parents for a while? Hadn't she come here to win? So why was she fraternising with the enemy team like that? Courtney remembered waking up in a very compromising position with Cody before trudging off to her cabin; though her cheeks flared crimson she gritted her teeth.

For all she knew the geek was working the angles with her just like he had with not notifying Eva about the mp3 player. He was on the other team and she couldn't trust him!

'_I just saw you sad and I wanted to cheer you up a bit!_

Cody's words rang through the CIT's head and she paused for a second; a smile creeping up on her face before another memory took hold of her and wiped it off just as quickly as it had sprouted.

'_We're so proud of you! You're finally picking up the slack your brother left! I'm so glad you've made something of yourself!'_

Mom… dad… Courtney bit her lip as she remembered how they would feel if she threw away a big-shot like her bro had for just a boy.

Just a boy. Nothing else.

Cody was nice and all but he wasn't worth a million dollars and she had to remember that! Besides after the challenges maybe they could reconnect or something!

Yeah! Courtney brightened up and smiled to herself. She would have to cut things off right now but that didn't necessarily mean forever!

And besides Cody was a tough guy! He could take it!

XXXXXX

Haha no Courtney, you're about to learn a tough lesson in how people project self-confidence they don't have!

Anyway chapter done; I've written up a storm; seriously like 5000 words alone with the two chapters I have done. Though they are very raw they are also very good; definite changes are taking place and the fluffy stuff (that was a pain in the ass for me to write by the way) is over!

Seriously though F**K the awakathon; I went through like 5 drafts and over 2500 words of deleted attempts and tries before I settled on this. So my apologies if the chapter is a bit messy; the next one was far more fun and I'll have a lot more endurance with editing it.

I don't *think* there are any major errors so I'm posting this chapter far faster than I thought I would.

Also all of what I am writing about Courtney's home is just me making stuff up from the little I know; I know a little about Cody's home life (mostly just stuff drawn from what he's said, his intro video he sent to Chris, and the random shit Sierra spouts about his life) but I know nothing about Courtney's.

Also I know I'm mean to Duncan but that's just Cody's narration, I don't hate the guy I just don't much care for him whereas Cody realllllllly doesn't like Duncan.

Seriously though next chapter is loco; I'm still trying to get over my shock at what ****, *******, and ******** did! DAYUM! Cody ain't having a fun time in the dodgebrawl episode let me leave it at that.

It's like they just wrote themselves! So don't blame me, blame my understanding of their characters shoving me off my brain controls and taking the wheel.

Also Cody's time-travelling seems to be changing him… and is… is he getting powers? Who knows!? Oh wait I do! Guess you guy's will have to wait for next chapter to find out! MWAHAHAHA *cough*

In any case I'll see you at the next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8: Burning Bridges

Okay I did several edits of this chapter so a lot of useless gunk was taken out as well as the rest refined into pure CanadianHBadger goodness!

Also 5000 words… this is my longest chapter yet I believe!

XXXXXX

Cody felt the new seemingly permanent bags under his eyes tentatively; before sighing. _'How many more changes will I go through before this is over?_' Cody thought to himself; it seemed that all even after all his attempts that the only thing that was changing due to him being thrown back in time was himself.

Events had proceeded as normal after Cody had passed out and Eva was voted off after the challenge for throwing a tantrum before it had finished looking for her Mp3 player. This meant that even after he had left nothing changed. Had Cody really had such a small effect on his friends last season? Did **anything** he do actually matter or have any affect?! Even the first time around!? Cody didn't really change anything in the third season not too long ago; he didn't even do much did he? Was this some sort of curse? That no matter what he did he never changed anything?

Unbidden an image of Gwen choosing Duncan over him, even after everything Cody did, flashed through the morose geek's head and Cody sighed again. What was point of trying? It was likely everything was going to end the exact same way it had last time!

This time however the memory of Courtney talking about her home flashed through Cody's head; he remembered how warm she felt when they (for lack of a better more platonic word) cuddled in the 'Awakathon'.

Cody smiled feeling a bit cheered up.

Maybe things weren't all so bad! He was making progress with Courtney and she seemed to need to get that off her chest. Courtney had probably never talked about her problems with a certain delinquent; and he probably wouldn't have even cared if she did talk about her home life! So Cody was making a difference!

Cody nodded giving himself a mental pep-talk before finishing his food and heading out to join the campers for their next challenge.

XXXXXX

One difference in this run through was how long Gwen, Trent, and Duncan had managed to last before passing out. The first time they had lasted until the second day before passing out in mid-day. This time they passed out on the second night and had managed to sneak in a few extra hours of sleep.

The trio still had large bags under their eyes and that was probably why Trent hadn't tried to cheer Cody up likely he usually did when the geek had his 'episodes'.

Yikes; had Cody really been 'angsting' that much lately? Then again he was a teenager, and he had a lot of pressure on him to do well. So maybe it was okay for him to be a bit more depressed then he was the first time around.

**Camera Start**

"Now the first rule of dodgeball is-

"Don't talk about dodgeball?" Noah interrupted Chris with a slightly louder voice waking Cody from his stupor. The tech-geek shook his head and looked around the area; they were in the gym and Cody had zoned out Chris' entire explanation. Cody looked back at Noah and remembered he was voted off this challenge for….

Well for being a dick.

Cody also remembered Noah being a good friend after the first season and though he never said it; being the first one to be voted off of his team must've hurt Noah. Cody vowed to try and keep the book-nerd on this time; this would be the first major change he made. After all Cody had the power of knowing what was going to happen in this challenge before it happened!

Right; save Noah from being eliminated first, save Courtney from whatever turned her nasty, keep Gwen and Heather from killing each other, stop Heather from bossing around Lindsay and Beth so much, and finally help keep killer bass from bullying Harold!

Cody marshalled all of his determination and a familiar look entered his eyes the effect now increased by the bags underneath them; giving his eyes more definition and making the steely glint in them stick out more.

X

**Confession; Trent.**

"Now I may not have known Cody for long; but I can recognize that look in his eyes at this point; something's riled him up and the other team better watch out." Trent said smiling easily despite the bags under his eyes.

**Confession; Noah.**

*sigh* "Why must it always be _physical_ challenges! Don't they know that some of us are waiting for their time to shine?!" Noah said huffing with his arms crossed.

X

Cody found himself lined up with a familiar line up in round one. Chef blew his whistle and Cody inhaled sharply before releasing a sigh. He let go of his self-doubts and worries and decided to focus on the game.

Suddenly everything shone in sharp clarity for Cody and he just **felt **where everything was around him. Cody slung the ball at a faster speed then he knew he could at Tyler. The jock ducked being used to the sport and glared at Cody for his quick trigger; only to yelp as the ball Cody threw bounced off the wall and onto the floor before slamming into the back of his head sending Tyler to ground.

Cody grinned before retreating to the group.

_1 down_

Leshawna and Harold proceeded to have their challenge and the geeky teen (even by Cody's standards) still threw like a girl.

Still the guy could dodge and Cody kept his mind sharp. Lindsay walked up and wasn't paying attention to the other team when a dodge ball smacked the poor girl right in the face. Cody winced before she got up and shyly waved at Tyler who was also sporting a nasty bruise on his chin.

Cody saw Heather take aim at the jock and lightly bumped the queen bee just as she threw a ball at Tyler; causing her to miss and glare at Cody. Courtney who saw where the Asian girl was aiming was furious and threw her ball right into Heather's chest knocking the girl out of play.

Courtney smirked victoriously and backed up. Owen was the next to go down and a shot from D.J. sunk into the cheerful boy's stomach. Cody and Leshawna faced off on the other team; both of them carrying a ball like a shield ready to deflect any attacks.

Unfortunately for the soul sister; Leshawna blocked a shot from Dj only to exhale rapidly as a second ball sailed under her guard into her gut.

"Come on guys! Easy out here! Eaaaasy out!" Courtney called out seeing Cody was the last one standing; Cody glared at Courtney for the remark before smiling.

"Alright Court I **was** going easy on you guys but since you thought that was simple I'll go full force!" Cody snarked knowing the other team only had one shot left before they'd have to wait for Cody to provide them ammo.

Once again as adrenaline filtered through his body Cody could suddenly **see **everything with crystal clarity; much like he had in his nightmare. Only this time his vision didn't zoom in as he stared at things preventing him from becoming entranced too much. Rather it left Cody in a hyper-aware state as everything seemed to click for the tech-geek.

D.J. was the biggest threat since the gentle teen had picked up the ball that had bounced off Heather when she was tagged. Cody made a snap calculation before slamming the ball into the court comparable to how Harold had.

"Oh wow, sorry Cody but that was pretty-" Courtney began only for the ball to bounce up against the ceiling into the ground before shooting through the DJ's guard and planting itself in his chin..

Cody grinned and buffed his nails before in his hyper-aware state he saw two balls coming at him. Cody dropped to the ground and they sailed harmlessly overhead. The teen the rolled as Courtney's bounced off the back wall similar to Cody's first shot.

Cody then grabbed another ball and buffed it up on the inside of his leather jacket; gathering static electricity on it and then sent it flying at Katie. Not even bothering to watch Katie scream and run away from the human seeking missile, or listen to Chris' astounded comments; Cody now only had eyes for Courtney.

The CIT seemed to look slightly sad about what was happening and that made Cody pause; she should be a bit riled up by this… not sad. Shaking his head and trying to not be distracted to easily by the CIT's uncharacteristic behaviour Cody continued to play. The tech-geek grinned at his friend before sending a ball into her thigh; harmless but impossible to block or catch; and Courtney sighed before heading off.

Cody grinned and walked back to his stunned team and he couldn't resist the opportunity for a joke.

"What? Never seen a geek do well in dodgeball before?" He quipped as the rest of his team stared at him in astonishment.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

Cody sat out for the second round and it went almost exactly the same way he remembered it going; the only difference was Tyler had a bruise on his chin matching Lindsay's.

Cody winced as Heather fumed not-so-quietly at the sight of the pair walking off to enjoy each other's company; that would bear changing… and fast.

But before he did that Cody sat next to Noah and grinned at the bookish nerd; feeling slightly annoyed as Noah ignored him completely Cody rallied his courage and began.

"Hey Noah." Cody said cheerfully; and the teen in question looked up from his book.

"Yeah?" he asked slowly with an eyebrow raised to the heavens.

"Um, you should give it a shot you know? The game that is; cause if we lose you realise everyone's gonna blame you and you'll be sent off." Cody said and Noah put down his book before answering.

"Uhuh; and why would you care?" Noah asked and Cody nearly cringed.

Alright so he couldn't tell Noah the truth, so Cody decided to go with part of it. "Well you seem like an alright guy, and you getting yourself kicked off so early would suck." Cody said slowly; Noah sighed as if the conversation was already wasting his time and Cody started to get a little angry. Seeing something brewing; the rest of the Screaming Gophers that had sat out of this round were now listening in on the two teen's conversation.

"Riiiight. Listen I'm old enough that I can take care of myself and besides if we lose, it's _your guys' _fault not mine." Noah said damning himself possibly worse than Ezekiel had. At the very least Ezekiel had an excuse of being home schooled and out of touch Noah was just being…

Well stupid.

"Well you know what? Fine." Cody said gritting his teeth, "But don't start crying about how you're so much smarter than us when you get kicked off for not trying. I'm no Einstein but even I can see how alienating your team is just asking to get kicked off."

Cody wasn't normally this easy to annoy but something about Noah of all people being such a jerk to Cody stung.

"Ooh! Is that a threat '_Codemeister_'? I'm sure I'll be fine; After all-" Noah raised his voice a bit so it carried over to everyone in the gym. "-I'm not the one cheating and making alliances with the** other team.**"

Cody froze and paled as he realized that Noah; possibly one of his best friends was trying to blackmail Cody and get him eliminated. Betrayal clogged his throat and Cody clenched his fists; before glaring at Noah.

"Big talk coming from you! Yeah! I made friends on the other team! Hell I like the people on the other team! They seem nice; And you wanna know why if we lose this you're** still **going to be eliminated?! Because while I was busy making friends and being nice to everyone, YOU WERE OFF MAKING ENEMIES!" Cody roared out before stalking out of the gym fury seeming to roll off the short teen.

He didn't feel like playing anymore.

It was at that point that everyone turned to look at Courtney who blushed before matching those stares before she rallied them together. Cody didn't know it; but Noah had effectively killed off the last doubts in Courtney's mind whether or not she should cut Cody out from her life.

XXXXXX

Cody found himself walking towards the docks and realized that he'd missed Heather marching out of the gym to find Lindsay. Seeing the queen bee stalking off the dock with a large scowl on her face. Cody sighed heavily letting go of his anger at Noah's aggression and decided to try again.

"Hey Heather," Cody called out and the queen bee stopped.

"What is it nerd?" Heather said; impatience and annoyance already lingering in her tone.

"I'm gonna drop the usual subtle dance here and get to the point." Cody said Noah's 'betrayal' making him impatient. Heather merely raised a dainty eyebrow at him. "You're in an alliance with Lindsay and Beth," Cody said simply and Heather opened her mouth but Cody raised his hand and cut her off. "Yes I know, and no I don't care." Cody said before continuing; "But why are you so worried about Lindsay going out with Tyler? It's not like that'll affect her votes which is what all that'll really matter in the end." Cody said and Heather paused before replying.

"She could start throwing challenges to keep her little boy-toy safe though!" she said and Cody rolled his eyes; unwilling to be his usual kind self after the treatment he'd gone through that day.

"Right; you do realise this is Lindsay we're talking about here? She isn't exactly the most useful team-mate around you know, and besides even if she were I doubt she'd even realize what us winning means for Tyler." Cody said and Heather paused this time looking uncertain.

"…you… actually have a point…" Heather said and Cody felt a rush of relief at finally something going his way that day.

"Right; and now what does trying to stop Lindsay from dating Tyler do? It means she'll start to resent you or start to rebel, both of which spell nothing good for any future plots with her involved or her vote." Cody said before sighing, "You're choice though, figure I'd try to help you out." He said weakly before starting to walk back to the gym now he'd cooled off.

"Alright nerd what's your angle on this though? You want in on the alliance then?" Heather demanded and Cody laughed

"What and be under your heel for the entire show? Nah, I just want to play this challenge for fun, winning isn't really important to me anymore." Cody said, _'besides if I get voted off I get another shot at winning this thing anyways.'_

"Well then what do you want? A new alliance? Me to stop calling you names? A relationship?" Heather demanded, "Where's the catch with this advice?!" Heather demanded.

Cody swiftly realized he was probably bringing one of Heather's biggest beliefs down around her. Unlike at her school where everyone had something they wanted from the other person when doing them a favor… Cody didn't want anything other than for everything to work out.

"There is no catch." Cody said and Heather huffed

"There's **always** a catch" She said confirming Cody's suspicions Cody rolled his eyes before replying.

"I just want you and Lindsay to not have a massive fight over something stupid like money." Cody continued, "I just want you to be happy." Cody felt the misstep right as he said it and knew exactly how Heather would interpret that last statement.

"You want me to be… happy? Listen nerd I don't know where you got this stupid idea; but I don't date scrawny little geeks. Being _nice_ isn't going to change that." Heather hissed out, Cody normally would've laughed off the comment; but with the day he was having…

"You know what?!" Cody ground out. "Go do, and think, what you like." He said before walking off to the gym before he left he gave one parting shot. "But I'd never like someone who could be so selfish they can't recognize simple kindness anymore and just lash out at it."

With that Cody stalked off back to the gym to finish the damn challenge; he didn't even care if he got voted off, this was the worst day he'd had in a long time.

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

Unfortunately for him Cody got back just in time to get roped into the final round of the game. Since the screaming Gophers finally had adapted to Duncan's strategy the game had devolved into a slow crawl.

Everyone was out and in the game at least once (sans Noah) and the game dragged on until finally it was down to Cody and Harold.

Cody had been knocked out a few times already since in his anger he was less aware of his surroundings. However he was still aware enough to dodge most of the balls sent his way and strangely enough carrying his team again.

Still anger bubbled slowly in his stomach and Cody glared at Harold who gulped. Seeing another 'past' friend gulp at him in fear woke Cody from his rage and he sighed.

"Sorry Harold you don't deserve this but I'm too mad to care." Cody said before beginning the onslaught.

Balls flew and bounced across the Screaming Bass's side. Where Owen was good at dodge ball because he could throw fast and hard with his hidden strength: Cody was fast and calculated; throwing balls that bounced across the walls or twisted around mid-air, or even followed Harold around the court with static electricity.

Harold ducked and twisted as the barrage continued; it was only after the gangly teen completed possibly the highest jump Cody had ever seen over a static ball that the teen realized he was enjoying this.

Grinning and feeling a rush of exhilaration at a real challenge coming at him this game Cody upped the attack; no longer held back by rage pent up in his system.

In the end it was one last ball that got Cody caught; in his calmer state Cody realized that Harold could still be voted off this challenge if his team lost (-and plus Cody honestly didn't want Noah to stay a single day longer then he had to on the island.)

So Cody flung a ball at the ground near Harold's feet and the gangly teen spun away from it; the ball then bounced from the floor, off the wall, and having lost its momentum; landed neatly in Harold's hands.

Cody froze after hearing Chef's whistle and watched as the entire Killer Bass team erupted in a cheer whilst the Screaming Gophers remained silent. The gap-toothed teen returned to his team just in time to hear Noah reply to someone.

"What can I say? Not enough effort."

Ah and there was Noah just in time to ruin Cody's newly found good mood.

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

The fire pit ceremony was tense and Cody was pleasantly surprised when Lindsay was called up in the group. That feeling was quickly replaced with betrayal as he sat alone with Noah and Chris loomed above them.

"Now Cody, you've gotten into a fight with your teammate over here and left the gym in a huff; you could've won the team the challenge in the two rounds you were out! Worse after** that** you got into another fight! Tsk tsk." Chris said in mock disappointment. Cody rolled his eyes; it wasn't him who was being a stubborn, selfish cow, or a lazy prick.

"But Noah; you didn't even try this challenge! Worse still you even started to provoke your entire team!"

"…and these reasons are why…." Chris paused for dramatic effect and Cody sighed, win or lose he just wanted the damn day to end.

"Noah!" Cody sighed as a reluctant shard of betrayal went through him while his rival merely smirked; "will **not** be staying another day." Chris said and Noah's smirk immediately shifted into a frown.

"WHAT?" he cried out and Chris smiled, "But I'm the smartest one here!?" he cried out and Chris raised his eyebrow.

"Really? Cause after everything you said the only one other person voted for Cody." Chris said before covering his mouth; "Oopsies that was meant to be a secret." Now the entire team was glaring at Heather who raised an eyebrow challengingly back at the them. Strangely enough Cody seemed to glow at that and regained a bit of his former cheer.

Whilst Noah continued to rant before being sent off the island. Cody still walked out of the ceremony still feeling awful. He hadn't just failed in getting Noah, his previous best friend to stay on the island; he'd actually help the boy get kicked off.

Out of the blue; A certain brown haired CIT filtered through Cody's head and he smiled; Courtney would cheer him up! She was quickly becoming very dear to Cody and he was getting slightly worried about her.

Right then; he'd find out what was wrong earlier, help her out, and then chat and vent about the day he'd had!

If anything Cody's smile grew; it was nice having someone who really cared about you.

XXXXXX

**Camera start**

Chris grinned at the retreating gap-tooth tech-geek's back; _'gotta say that kid is one drama goldmine! Fight with two people on the same day! And a Romeo-Juliet thing going on between him and little Miss CIT! On top of that… well that... last vote was interesting… but I'm saving that nugget of drama for later.'_

Chris then turned to the camera and grinned,

"Ooh that was a tense campfire ceremony! Fan-favourite Cody came _this_ close to being voted off… Okay maybe it wasn't that close after all but I still made you sweat didn't I!? And that means I still get paid!" Chris said triumphantly before an intern whispered something in his ear; Chris then paused before speaking up again. "HOLD IT! There is still one last scene we gotta show you guys!" Chris said with a wink

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

**Camera start.**

Cody sighed as he walked back to camp ahead of his team, he was looking for a specific person when and he grinned when he saw her.

"Hey Courtney!" Cody called out and ran off to talk to her leaving his team behind; he never noticed a few members roll their eyes at him or Heather stare at him suspiciously. Courtney did notice however and hardened her resolve for what she had to do.

Cody caught up to Courtney and grinned at his now closest friend; he puffed from his brief run and spoke up. "Man I'm glad to see you; I think I've had the worse day ever," Cody began before a random thought ran through his head "I think at this point you're my favorite person on this island" the tech geek said grinning lightly before noticing Courtney was shaking. Cody walked up closer to her, "Court?" He asked getting worried, "Are you okay?"

"Cody?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk."

"…what?" Cody asked pulling up short; he then laughed a bit nervously, "Yikes Court you sound like we're breaking up." Cody teased before his expression dimmed seeing Courtney continue to stare past him and keep a blank expression.

"Cody… we can't keep… well doing this!" Courtney cried out, "I don't know if you realized this Cody but I'm here to win and ever since I've started talking to you our team has done nothing but lose! And you still almost lost us this challenge as well!" Courtney cried out. "If my team sees me talking to you, one of the reasons we were on a losing streak, then they're gonna start thinking about voting me off, never mind listen to me!"

Courtney paused before continuing, "So... we can't talk anymore." She finished lamely waiting for Cody's reply.

The tech geek was shaking his head; "You're kidding right? You… you aren't just gonna leave me like this?" Cody asked shakily and Courtney sighed heavily.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be Cody." Courtney said curtly biting her lip.

Cody was shaking now as what felt like a hot poker was being shoved into his chest. "So that's it then." Cody said slowly "it… all meant nothing to you." The tech-geek was speaking in monotone and was starting to fall apart.

"No! It's not like that it's just-"

"YOU KNOW WHAT SAVE IT COURTNEY!" Cody cried out sick of people valuing money above others at this point. Every positive thing he'd felt about the CIT seemed to now burn worse than any thought about Gwen and Duncan had. Even Noah's betrayal hadn't been as bad since the boy was unaware of the friendship they'd had.

Courtney though…

"I can't believe that you'd just do this after everything! After I've started to give a damn about you! After …" Cody paused and stared at her, _'after you've started to mean as much to me as Gwen used to…'_ Cody realized and the epiphany seemed to hurt worse than when he got his brand.

"You know what? Fine. Have good time on your team; and don't worry about me stuffing it up for you by being too friendly." Cody growled "-Cause at this point I don't think I can even look at you."

Before a stunned Courtney could reply Cody stormed off into the woods.

He didn't want someone like **her** to see him like this; to see him on the verge of breaking down right in front of her.

A wry thought occurred to Cody as he walked out of the camp and he started to chuckle before it evolved into a full blown, slightly demented, laugh.

Perhaps Duncan and Courtney weren't such a bad match after all!

**Camera End**

XXXXXX

Poor Cody, why must I torture you so?

So... Drama!

I promised you shit would go down HARD in this chapter; and while I don't like writing heavy angst we'll see a few scenes of Cody just doing the usual coping thing. So now let's tackle this in order of people;

Noah doesn't know Cody at this point; I was also watching the dodgebrawl episode while writing this and he also seemed like kind of a massive jerk. I love Noah don't get me wrong but I think that at this point he needed to get kicked off for a wake-up call.

Unfortunately for Cody he didn't realize that; and Noah being unfriendly to him hurt a lot because of their friendship last time. Thus Cody took what he said a lot harder. Noah is also getting suspicious of Cody because he saw our gap-toothed protagonist collaborating and cheating with Courtney, a Killer Bass member.

So we get EVIL!NOAH! MWAHAHA

Okay not really, this isn't the last of Noah and I'm not gonna lie he'll probably redeem himself later on. But until then you'll just have to wait for Noah. Also I forgot to mention the ear kiss last chapter didn't I? haha kinda forgot that happened since after finished the final draft of last chapter I went on to write this first draft and well… you can see how I forgot.

Heather next!

Heather is fairly simple; she's reading too much into Cody's actions and missing the forest for the trees. She thinks he's helping her because he likes her and wants 'teh secks' but really Cody is just being Cody; being all self-sacrificing and noble an' shit.

It's why I like him so damn much. Really I only watch TDI because Cody's actions have an amount depth to them that is surprising. Third season not so much unfortunately but like I said that's where my story differs from canon a bit.

And lastly Courtney;

Well this is pretty easy; I'm actually mirroring Courtney and Cody to Courtney and Duncan. How both of the Killer Bass members ended up devaluing the entire relationship (or flirtationship in Cody's case) to the other person and the "victims" both say the same line "After everything we've done!?" (at least; I **think** Courtney says that at some point to Duncan.).

Now Cody and Courtney had something more than a 'flirtationship' of course; for one they had a natural chemistry; like so much chemistry they actually had me rewrite the first draft of awakathon with it featuring CoCo rather than Heather. If the fact I physically could not, not write them together in a scene isn't chemistry I don't know what is.

But the kicker is this.

Cody is lonely, depressed, and has so many self-confidence issues it makes me look fairly confident (and believe you me I am no stranger to any of those emotions; I don't think any teenager isn't.) Season 3 fucked up my Cody; like where Canon Cody reverted to being awkward and stalkery like season 1; my Cody was developing a complex, or social anxiety, or depression…

Or maybe all 3!

So in this horrible state Cody starts using the thought of Courtney as a crutch and starts feeling very, very strong stirrings towards her and right as they start to develop into a relationship that would make Bridgette and Geoff seem like 2 kids playing house together; BOOM! Courtney cuts it off.

So next chapter be ready for the fireworks, waterworks, and all kind of works cause dayum! Total Drama Island is really living up to its name! How lame does Heather reading out a diary on T.V. seem now in comparison to the CoCo Drama unfolding!

Oh yeah before I forget; Courtney isn't suddenly evil. I think I made it fairly obvious but just in case it isn't...

This is really hurting our little CIT too; she's in a fierce battle on the inside with her competitiveness and ambition with her loneliness and feelings for Cody. She doesn't really know what's the right thing to do anymore and Cody being a fragile little thing isn't helping either.

So adios amigos! I feel rather Alejhandro-ish (since Heather-ish doesn't seem to fit anymore) with all this careful manipulations of my characters but then again I am a writer! THIS IS MY JOB!

Well not technically since it is fanfiction and I'm not getting paid; it **is** more an internship if anything…

PS: Sorry about the long authors note by the way!


	9. Chapter 9: Wounded not Broken

XXXXXX

_Yellow eyes surrounded by black sclera; however he wasn't afraid, no, he'd seen the same eyes too many times at this point to be afraid. It was also difficult to be afraid when he was filled with complete and utter apathy. It was as if someone had scooped out his innards and left him a husk; an empty shell of himself. The scene shifted from darkness into a familiar place; sighing to himself he looked around the area and tried not to let misery take over his mind._

_Again._

_As his despair filled thoughts ran their course and he returned to normal he noticed a lake sitting in the middle of a familiar field. It felt out of place in the field whilst at the same time feeling like always had belonged there. The cool blue waters relieving any thirst or dryness inside him just at the very sight; he stared at the picturesque view wondering what it meant._

_As he walked up slowly to the placid calm waters he noticed a very sharp and clear reflection and he gasped before backing off from the water._

_The bags under his eyes had darkened into an even darker shade; appearing a pitch black with an inky darkness that seemed to flicker and deepen even as he looked into them._

_More importantly the 'eye-bags' now had stretched down into two markings that tracked down his face like tear tracks._

_He stared at his reflection as a bitter laughter bubbled up from his throat and he chuckled; completely devoid of any cheer or humour._

_He looked up into the sky and as his teal eyes flicked up they met a familiar pair of yellow eyes which crinkled up in amusement as a low toned voice rumbled out above him._

"**Enjoying the view?"**

XXXXXX (2 days after the Dodgebrawl challenge)

Trent was worried.

He hadn't known Cody for too long but the kid was…

Well he was honestly one of the nicest people Trent had ever met; the musician had known a few people like Cody, the same brand of self-deprecating humour and air of cheeriness around them that seemed to draw anyone into a conversation.

The problem, and the difference, was that Cody's cheeriness and good attitude would just vanish into thin air when he thought nobody was paying attention. The kid could be a lot of things but subtle was not one of them, and it was obvious to Trent that something that was eating away at Cody slowly but surely.

Normally Trent would leave that well enough alone but he'd noticed during the Awakathon how Cody had lightened up around a certain mousy-haired CIT. It was different when the two were together; like they had managed to forget their respective problems and were able to let go and be themselves.

Trent may have been jealous if he didn't have a very special Goth girl hanging off his every word during the same night.

A dazed grin familiar to anyone who'd dated someone before wound its way on Trent's face as the thought of Gwen entered his mind; the way she smiled at his (admittedly horribly cheesy) lines, the subtle ways she showed she cared…

The guitarist shook his head; now wasn't the time… though he wished it was… what would Gwen do about Cody in his position? ...

Nope, not now; focus. Nodding to himself and rallying his thoughts Trent continued with his inner monologue.

Cody had seemed better around Courtney; he was still cheerful but not in the same way he was around Trent or Heather. The tech-geek was more genuine and his depressive nature had actually shown through his normal cheer he wore like a mask around other people.

That was before dodge-brawl though; Trent winced as he remembered the events that had transpired on that episode.

Yeah Noah had gotten the boot and Trent was glad; he wondered vaguely who'd voted for Cody since Trent had seen Heather interact with people before and she was much gentler with Cody when they talked then she was with everyone else… maybe she was afraid of the connection and had voted for the geek anyway? Trent shrugged and banished the thought of the self-proclaimed Queen Bee from his mind; this was about Cody…

And whatever the hell it was Courtney had done to the tech-geek.

Where before Cody's depressed nature had been hidden behind a cheery façade that was only dropped when he was alone: now it was rather obvious to Trent that the geek was suffering even when was in a conversation. It had been this way ever since Cody had talked to Courtney after the last campfire ceremony.

The geek had been devastated when he got back to the cabin and where other people thought it was because Noah had completely turned on Cody out of nowhere in the challenge; Trent knew better.

Cody had smiled dimly at the other campers before immediately going to bed; Justin had been too preoccupied talking to an equally oblivious Owen, Heather was too busy being mad at her teammates for suspecting her to be the mysterious other voter for Cody, Lindsay and Beth were too…

…well they didn't notice; 'nuff' said. Izzy could've noticed or maybe not at all it was rather hard to figure that out with her insane nature, Leshawna had been accusing Heather of voting off Cody, and Gwen…

Gwen had noticed that was sure though. In fact both she and Heather (though Heather's had been far more hurried and wary for watching eyes) were both sending the tech-geek worried looks. Now Cody was only present at meal-times and night; at any other time he retreated into the woods and was nowhere to be found.

He'd also been far more quiet and reserved then he was before in his façade; he would just smile and nod and Justin's and Owen's antics, he essentially ignored everyone else, and worst of all he was avoiding his friends.

Trent pursed his lips as he paused before the Killer Bass's door, his hand poised to knock. It was evening and he could hear the girl's voices talking on the inside of the cabin. Finally he braced himself and knocked on the door;

This was gonna be really awkward; Trent winced.

The door opened and a smiling Bridgette poked her head out; a questioning glint entered her eyes as she noticed Trent and the musician sighed before answering her inevitable question.

"Hi! Uh… can I see Courtney for a sec? Just wanted to ask her something." Trent said rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously, a friendly smile plastered on his face.

Bridgette flushed red before retreating back into the cabin and a scowling CIT replaced her before she; exited the cabin and closed the door.

"What?" she demanded crossing her arms and looking suspicious of Trent; seeing her already looking suspicious and impatient Trent decided to get straight to the point.

"What happened with you and Cody?" Trent asked slowly straightening up as he remembered his reason for talking to Courtney. The CIT raised an eyebrow and she looked around;

"Did he put you up to this?" She asked and Trent froze,

"What?!" he asked as the question floored him "No! Cody would never-"

"Cause I'm not changing my mind this easily;" Courtney said tilting her chin forward; stubbornness rolling off her expression. "We can't be friends when we're on opposite teams; so tell him that the answer is the same!" Courtney's expression twisted but the CIT whirled around so fast Trent only got a glimpse of it before she walked back into the cabin and slammed the door.

Sighing to himself as he rubbed the bridge of his nose; Trent walked off the porch and returned to his cabin. Cody would be getting back in a few hours and maybe he could figure out what happened on the nerd's end.

XXXXXXX

Cody blew some wet hair out of his eyes and he struggled through another push-up.

After the… incident, with Courtney… Cody had been a mess. It had felt like Gwen and Duncan all over again; a dull ache resounding in his chest throughout the day as miserable thoughts invaded the tech-geek's mind.

Cody went to sleep that night holding tears in desperately; not wanting to embarrass himself any further then he'd already done so during the day. His thoughts were just a constant tirade of self-degrading hate.

Then Cody had the nightmare and it was a reminder that he should be above this sorta stuff; he had a higher purpose… What that purpose actually was he wasn't sure yet; but when he figured that part out he wanted to be fully prepared to move forward.

And the first step was improving himself; in any way he could.

Cody also hadn't investigated the changes his body was undergoing fully; he had mostly just rolled with whatever happens in complacency.

A shard of self-hate formed in his stomach and Cody's expression tightened slightly. The tech-geek shook his head as he continued his workout; this time he hopped on a branch he'd used already and started performing vertical sit-ups.

'_Two weeks ago I couldn't even dream of doing these… but now…' _Cody realised; a humourless smirk growing on his face

Cody had already figured out most of the changes that had occurred because of the nightmares; and almost all of them were improvements. For one he was stronger and faster; workouts or not, nobody improved this quickly so it was likely that his physical skills had been augmented.

Also when his skin had lightened a few shades it had actually toughened and hardened up a bit and it was actually harder to bruise or pierce. Cody had found that one out the hard way when he'd tripped down a cliff and promptly rolled down it in a mess of limbs.

Instead of a few broken bones or worse; Cody was just a bit bruised.

He also had a weird frame of vision where he could see every detail around him. Cody had realised that the vision only activating when adrenaline had coursed through him was a defence mechanism; since after he had figured out how to activate his eyes on command and held them 'on' for longer than a few minutes; a migraine had begun to grow in his temples.

Cody huffed as sweat dripped down from his chest onto the ground; droplets sliding around the circular border of his brand. It was a bit reckless to reveal the large 3 emblazoned upon Cody's abdomen but at this point the tech-geek didn't care; the dull aching emptiness in his chest making him more reckless then he normally was.

After a while Cody huffed before dropping to the ground with uncharacteristic litheness before he reached for a towel he'd laid next to his bag. Something in Cody gave and a wave of depression struck the teen for a moment.

Cody sighed miserably as several scenes replayed themselves in his head.

"_-I'm not the one cheating and making alliances on the other team!"_

"_I don't date scrawny little geeks, being __**nice**__ isn't going to change that."_

"_I'm here to win"_

_Duncan kissing Gwen, _

_The tortured expression on Courtney's face as she realised her new friend had betrayed her and kissed her boyfriend. _

_The fact that no matter how much he changed himself or events nobody ever cared about him more than other people or money or-_

Cody whimpered and fell back; he hugged his knees close to his chest and sat there. The pain in his chest had grown from a dull ache to a crippling agony that ripped through him leaving him incapable of rational thought.

'_It's just Courtney' _Cody thought _'she's just being selfish right? I mean there isn't anything wrong with me… right?' _Cody's hands were shaking now.

'_Really?'_ A sardonic voice sounded in his head _'Then how do you explain Gwen choosing Duncan of all people over you? He was already taken by her friend and she found him more of an option then you! I mean really why should she even consider you? You're just a pathetic wimp; you can't even handle Courtney telling you to piss off after a few hours of talking!'_

'_I- It's not like that! It's different! We had a connection! I exposed a tiny little piece of me to her and she just chose money over that so quickly!' _Cody thought desperately; he wasn't overthinking what the Awakathon was to Courtney was he?

'_And look how fast she dropped you once she saw what you're really like?' _the voice in his head pointed out bluntly. '_Face it there is something wrong with you. You're broken, wounded, and who wants damaged goods like that? Especially even if you were "fixed" you'd still be the same pathetic nerd you've always been.'_

Tears sprung to Cody's eyes as his self-esteem dropped even lower than it already was… he was right… he was just some shitty wounded social reject... why should anyone even care about him? Never-mind try to fix whatever the hell was wrong with him!

Eventually after a few minutes of trying to stop breaking down on the spot when he was probably on camera; Cody managed to still his shaking hands and muster up the will to get up.

What did it matter anymore though? He already knew no matter what he did nobody would ever give a shit about him.

Nobody ever did after all; his parents probably took all their vacations and went to inter-national jobs to avoid him, the other people at school knew he was a freak so they ostracized him, even the other campers didn't talk to him much… first run or after his time-travelling.

And the girls knew just how pathetic he really was.

Cody shook his head and tried to stop 'angsting' for at least a few minutes.

'_Get over yourself Cody,' _the tech-geek in question thought to himself _'it doesn't matter what they think, you have to just go it alone then.' _

Cody nodded to himself rallying his thoughts as he stared at the sky.

"I don't care anymore; it doesn't matter if nobody gives a shit about me, I'll just make my own way; I'll find a purpose in life and I'll give everything to it; if something **is **wrong with me and nobody wants to be with me..." Cody paused for a minute; raw emotion clogging his throat as he continued his vow "…then so be it. I'll walk my own path alone."

But… what would he progress towards? Being rich? He was already there… good deeds?

…

He had powers didn't he? Why didn't he just go to some country in the Middle East and fight the corruption that was there?

Well that required more subtlety then Cody already had… the tech-geek sighed. Whatever first thing he would do is try to figure out his powers and earn himself a million dollars to put towards his cause.

Then… he'd figure out what to do when he got there.

As he made his back to the camp Cody looked up into the sky;

"Nice weather… I might just go for a swim…" the geek said to himself.

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

Cody sighed as he reclined on his plastic lounger on the beach. He'd changed his water-friendly outfit since he realised he couldn't keep swimming with his shirt on or it'd raise questions.

Cody instead wore his old black pair of swimming trunks (a bit nostalgically since they'd been stolen by Sierra on WT) and had wrapped bandages around his midsection. It attracted a few looks but it thankfully passed most people's scrutiny and it allowed Cody to recline and snooze on the beach comfortably. It was also after a moment of considering the roll that he decided to wrap some around his wrists from now on.

Considering the amounts of injuries people took in the next episodes; Cody decided to incorporate the bandages on his normal outfit later on; was going to have them wrapped around his leg for easy access.

In any case Cody usually wasn't one for snoozing or wasting time like he was, but he'd been working out non-stop for almost two days and he was so stressed out lately… it felt good to relax.

The dull ache in his chest lightened a bit and Cody smiled calmly. It was a small start but he'd heal from World Tour, from Courtney; and peaceful moments like these were the key. The sun was shining and though Canadian summers were nothing amazing it was still a pleasant temperature.

"Well someone seems to be enjoying themselves." A voice spoke up and Cody's smile grew a bit at the sound; one teal eye opened up lazily and he saw Trent also wearing swimmers looming over him. Cody mock groaned and shifted.

"Aw come on Trent you're blocking out the sun man." Cody whined and Trent grinned back at him.

"Ha. Ha. I know I'm not as skinny as you but I'm no Owen." Trent quipped before stretching out on an identical plastic lounger next to Cody. The pair settled into a comfortable silence before Trent spoke up.

"So… you and Courtney had a fight." Trent began; matching Cody's wince with a smaller one of his own. The tech geek huffed and twisted around to face Trent who was trying to non-chalantly stare into the horizon, the effect was ruined slightly by the nervous twitch he had under Cody's scrutiny.

"Yeah…" Cody said his good mood plummeting swiftly at the thought of the CIT. "Listen I was kinda hoping to forget about it and have a good time-"

"I know, and don't get me wrong… I'm all for it." Trent said holding up a hand to pacify Cody "-but burying these things is only delaying a problem and it can come back and bite you at the worst moment possible." Cody couldn't help a small smile at that.

Trent was so right it wasn't funny; every time on TDWT someone tried to bury or run from their problems they would just be dragged out into the light at the worst possible moment.

But that was mostly because of that snake Alejhandro and his plotting.

The thought of the Latino made Cody grit his teeth; if that slimy bastard tried to use Courtney against him…

Cody sighed and realised Trent was more right then the guitarist knew; if Alejhandro didn't do something to give him an easier win on World Tour, the producers would to raise the drama **this** season.

Bastards, all of them.

Cody realised a moment had passed with visible anger going through the geek and Trent had stopped talking at the sight of such a rare emotion on Cody. With a sigh Cody let go of his anger and failed to notice Trent's own sigh of relief.

"Yeah… you… you're right." Cody said slowly before sighing. "Alright; you know how Courtney and I had… something going on during the Awakathon right?" Cody said and Trent nodded,

"Yeah I figured I'd see you two going out before the night was over." Trent joked and Cody gave him a wan smile before continuing;

"Anyways we pretty much had a heart-to-heart which was surprising since I've always been fairly private about that kinda stuff and I took her to be the same way. So we really connected and had a good time in a nut-shell." Cody paused for a moment

"But…" Trent prompted and Cody sighed,

"I guess maybe that scared her? I dunno; the point is now she hates my guts and wants nothing to do with me since I'm '_on the other team'_ and she doesn't want to be voted off for associating with me." Cody rolled his eyes and allowed a bit a bitterness to show through. To his surprise Trent snorted as well and copied the action;

"Alright that's pretty dumb; I mean I know a million dollars is a lot… but what you guys could've had…" Trent drifted off, "I know it feels like you might be making a big deal out of nothing, it was just a night you guys spent together after all, but I saw the two of you-"

"-when you weren't making 'kissy-faces' with Gwen" Cody interjected a touch wistfully; but nevertheless grinning good-naturedly at Trent. The guitarist grinned back and mock rolled his eyes.

"-when I wasn't busy **being suave** with Gwen I saw the two of you talking; you both seemed to relax a bit... like you were both similar in a way. So the fact she's willing to throw away something big like that for money; doesn't say much about her… well nothing nice anyways." Trent said and Cody felt his spirits rise a bit.

"So… I'm not just being a little bitch about it." Cody asked bluntly staring at Trent who nodded.

"No. There was something more to it than just talking… you guys 'clicked'" Trent fitted his hands together at that and Cody snorted. Trent then grinned… "But sometimes you can be a bit of a bitc-

Cody laughed and punched Trent in the shoulder; the guitarist laughed back, genuinely happy that he'd managed to cheer up his depressed friend.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

Whelp this seems like as good as spot as any to end this chapter before it becomes too bloated.

I know it's been a while since the last update; school started so no more "a chapter every two days at the least" maybe an update a week if things aren't too crazy.

(I deleted like 2 paragraphs here to save you guys time since i tend to ramble; instead here is a tl;dr)

**TL;DR: "I'm so fucking busy;" *sobs***

Anyway the major point of this chapter was to feel bad with just a positive spot at the end. The nightmares are getting worse and worse; but Cody is too busy trying to ignore the fact that he is falling apart at the seams to notice them. In the end he just breaks down and all his self-doubts and self-hatred stored up from World Tour crashes on him along with the new Courtney shit.

He gets up though.

That's the important bit.

So manages to put himself back together; at least well enough that he can start to heal from the crap he's been through. Trent then comes in and helps him along; being an awesome guy which is of course usually how Trent is.

We also see a bit of Trent's thoughts on Cody at the start and how he can see through Cody's façade; I think I spelled it out a little too obviously but Trent, Heather, Gwen, and Ezekiel all see through Cody's bullshit. Courtney would too but she's too distracted by her own fears and self-doubts to notice it.

Props to NyanyaKittyface for being one of my more interesting reviews :)

(I may or may have not read you're your review in Sierra's voice after the "MOMMA WANTS MORE" part)

So yeah... it was funny; and also fairly long which was awesome and you also reminded me Chris and Chef haven't played a large role and I haven't even addressed that; they have a role to play... yes... they will... MWAHAHAHA

Okay maybe its not an evil role but they'll come into play sometime soon...ish.

Anyway now that I've explained my intention I'm interested to hear what you guys got from this chapter; Any different interpretations of the characters? Any predictions on the next challenge? Any complaints or ideas?

TELL ME!  
…in the review section… I'm eager to hear it.

PEACE! *flips peace sign and jumps out and breaks window*

*climbs back up*

OH FUCK I ALMOST FORGOT  
MASSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIVEEE PROPS!

To DaOneInDaCorner for drawing me my first piece of fan-art I've ever gotten! Yeah! SO AWESOME GUYS! WOOT! It's on his account; it's uncoloured and a bit rough but a million times better than anything I could ever do. It's also a million times more than my fans of BOTN did! Or my friends! Useless scrubs…

I can say that about my friends since they don't read my stuff… mwhahahaha! That's right! STEVE! *doesn't actually know any called Steve*

Enough! I've written too much in the AN of this chapter! Sorry! promise the next chapters I'll zip it.

*Jumps out and breaks a different window*


	10. Chapter 10: (sorry) The End

-of the beginning,

Haha gotcha guys didn't I?

This story is still alive and kicking, and I have excuses for the long wait in the AN at the bottom.

Enjoy the end of the first part of the story. (it was pretty damn hard to write)

XXXXX

Cody sighed into his oatmeal for what had to be the fourth time that morning. His cheer from the beach had all but worn off overnight and now he just felt drained and empty.

For once he could actually feel the bags under his eyes and Cody blearily rubbed at them again wondering if they would ever go away now. A familiar Guitarist sat next to Cody and grinned at the fatigued teen as he smiled tiredly back.

"How'd ya sleep last night?" Trent asked raising an eyebrow at Cody; the tech geek gave his musician friend a tired smile.

"The usual," Cody said rubbing the back of his head self-consciously, "Thanks by the way, for you know… at the beach." Cody said turning slightly red. Trent beamed at the gap-toothed teen and chuckled.

"It's no trouble Codes; just try not to let this teenage drama drag you down; I've found life will always go on even in the worst of times." Trent said thoughtfully whilst spooning at his morning mush.

Cody smiled and took a bite of his own meal, for some reason it tasted better then yesterdays, and Cody wasn't missing his chance for a decent tasting meal for once.

A few moments of comfortable silence stretched on until a certain Gothette walked in and got her morning's serving of mush before sitting across from Trent and Cody.

"Mornin' guys;" Gwen said blearily whilst Trent and Cody exchanged amused looks.

"Not a morning person I take it Gwen?" Trent said, an infatuated smile winding its way on his face; it was fairly subtle but Cody had known Trent well enough to tell the difference.

"Nope; I'm especially not made for camping." Gwen sighed and mirrored Trent's actions from a few minutes ago and spooned at her food.

Gwen eye Cody's now nearly empty bowl and raised an eyebrow,

"Yikes Cody, how can you eat this stuff?" Gwen asked staring at the gap-toothed teen like he had sprouted another head.

"I don't know what you guys are whining about the food so much for; this pretty good!" Cody said grinning; Gwen raised an eyebrow before dipping her own spoon in Cody's oatmeal and took a bite. She froze for a moment before eying the rest of Cody's food.

"You got real oats…" Gwen said in shock, "with cinnamon and everything!" she hissed out and Cody's eyes widened. Trent raised an eyebrow and took a bite out of Cody's food as well.

"Aw man, you're so lucky Cody!" Trent said mournfully; Cody looked at his two hungry friends who were currently salivating over his apparently delicious meal and he sighed.

"You guys can split the rest," Cody offered gently; Trent and Gwen both looked at each other before Trent gave in.

"Ladies first," the musician said and Gwen smiled, she took a large portion of Cody's food for herself and Trent started to tear up at the loss of edible food.

"That's way more than half," Trent said mournfully and Gwen gave him a shark like grin.

"What can I say, I'm not really a morning person" The Gothette quipped.

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

"Alright campers! May I present to you… the first ever… Wawanakwa talent show!" Chris called out and the campers politely clapped; the Asian T.V. show host bowed gallantly and grinned,

"Thankyou, thankyou. Now in this challenge the two teams will compete in this talent show and offer up 3 presentations. The one with the best presentation gets to go on another round and the loser team has to send somebody home!" Chris explained before continuing,

"The teams will be judged by our resident rap-legend, DJ, and dance legend Chef!" Chris called out cheerfully, "Chef's approval will be shown by our very own, Chef-o-meter!" Chris cried out gesturing to the blank air above him.

He then turned to the campers, "Now you have the rest of the day to get your presentations ready for the contest!" Chris stopped himself for a second as he walked off. "Oh and there aren't really any rules, oh… and it has to be to legal!"

Duncan would be disappointed; Cody mused to himself as he moved with the rest of his team to their cabin to watch the try outs for the show.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

Whilst Owens performance was admirable and the girls quick refusal to hear his second performance brought a grin to Cody's face; the gap toothed teen could see why nobody wanted Owen on for the show. Heather then gave her performance which Cody politely clapped for and inwardly frowned. He remembered Heather doing *something* during her performance. He was about to remember it; the thought forming in his mind when a voice broke into his thoughts.

"Trent I heard you playing on the dock, you should go on!" Gwen said lightly smiling at the guitarist. Trent looked pat her in surprise.

"Really? Well… alright, I'll try out then." Trent said happily.

Cody meanwhile grit his teeth and tried to ignore the pain growing in his chest. Damn it he should be happy for Gwen and Trent, not be jealous like this!

Sighing to himself Cody got up and headed out. A voice had him stop in his tracks.

"Cody where are you going? You have to stay here!" Heather called out catching the attention of everyone there.

Gritting his teeth in annoyance Cody gave Heather what he hoped was a pleasant smile and joked in a friendly tone. "Ah, I'm afraid I don't really have any talents that I could use, and I'm not a judge so you guys don't really need me here." Cody lied, giving Heather a lazy two-fingered salute and sauntered off.

**Camera end**

Once he was out of sight Cody sighed out loud and sat down on a familiar stump; leaning on his fist miserably Cody blew some errant strands of hair out of his eyes. He looked up into the sky and wondered what it would be like, to be free from this damn show, to actually be able to fly away and get away from it all.

Cody sighed again; giving in to his quickly encroaching depression and sat on the stump in a morose silence. Suddenly the bushes rustled and Cody looked around quickly adopting a less miserable persona.

"Trent? Gwen?" Cody called out as he felt a presence in the clearing. Something skittered across the clearing and the geek twisted around wildly trying to find out what was stalking him.

Suddenly something dropped in front of Cody and the geek jumped backwards ready to fight.

Only to find it was a crushed metallic object, a very familiar crushed metallic object.

Cody gulped as he realised something had destroyed all the cameras in this clearing so they could do something in it unseen.

Cody readied himself for anything only for a familiar voice to break into the clearing.

"Cody?" Gwen asked as she walked up to the extremely tense teen. Cody twisted around wildly and stopped when he saw it was Gwen.

"Phew! Jesus Gwen thought you were a bear or something." Cody joked and subtly nudged the broken camera into some bushes. The Goth narrowed her eyes and looked around, "Uh, what are you doing here on your own?" she asked.

"What am I not allowed to head off on my own now?" he snarked at the Goth and she let out a light wince and smiled at him gently.

"Guess not, was just wondering that's all." She said, she then sat on the stump and Cody remembered why it was so familiar. This was the stump… where… he… sniffed Gwen's hair.

Cody barely, just barely managed to avoid face-palming at his own actions. What the hell had he been thinking? A flush coming on his face from the memory Cody shook his head mentally as he realised Gwen was speaking and he had tuned her out.

"-and she's just such a bitch sometimes you know? Sometimes I feel like the only person on this island I actually enjoy spending time with is Trent… oh and you too of course." Gwen finished and Cody suppressed a wince at the sharp reminder of his place in Gwen's world, a footnote.

Stopping a sigh from escaping his lips Cody gave Gwen a very wistful smile and replied with a well hidden false cheer; "Don't worry Gwen; I'm sure Trent'll make up for the other people on this island! And try not to let Heather get to ya it's the reaction she's looking for really." Cody comforted her before stretching out alongside the stump with his arms clasped behind his head to provide him a makeshift cushion.

Cody was drifting off for a moment and figured Gwen had left the area when her voice broke into his pleasant haze of sleep.

"What about you?" Cody raised his eyebrow and looked at Gwen for a moment.

"Whaddya mean?" Cody asked from his position.

"Well _something's _been eating at you the past few days." Gwen said crossing her arms, "You've been avoiding everyone lately and it isn't right." Cody's teal shaded eyes flicked from away from the gothette at that.

"I have the right to go where I please on this island you know." Cody said feeling more than a little miffed; Gwen was one of the reasons he was miserable in the first place and here she was demanding he just _tell _her personal stuff like this?

"Sorry; you're right I shouldn't pry…. But you're okay right?" Gwen asked rubbing her arm self-consciously. Cody winced at his misstep… Gwen was just worried about him more than anything even if she was being less then delicate about it.

Looking away from the Gothette Cody stared at the clouds for a long moment and, unknown to Cody, just before she was going to give up and break the near unbearable silence he spoke.

"I don't think I've been okay for a while now." Cody said slowly thinking his words through carefully as he said them "-but it's been getting better" he lied wishing for the first time in his life Gwen would just leave him well enough alone. Realising his current evasiveness on the subject was only encouraging her curiosity Cody rolled over slightly and let 'Codemeister' out to play.

" 'Sides what about you? Heather getting under your skin or will you are okay to handle queen bee on your own?" Cody asked cockily, grinning at Gwen brightly; the Gothette merely rolled her eyes.

"I'll be fine Cody" Gwen said smiling lightly and rolling her eyes at his sudden mood-swing. "I was just worried about you, that's all."

Cody simply smiled before suddenly feeling the urge to go for a swim. He twisted around and propped his head on his fist.

"You wanna head off for a swim?" Cody asked and Gwen paused for a moment before smiling,

"You know what? I'd actually really like that."

XXXXXX

**Camera Start**

The pair had walked back to the cabins only to find Heather and Lindsay there and the Queen Bee was in a rather unpleasant mood from the two teens not really putting their all into the challenge.

"Oh look here everyone! First hook-up of the season!" Heather cried out mockingly and Cody raised an eyebrow at the Asian girl.

"Uhuh… sure… "Cody said, giving Heather that told her he was unimpressed. "You know there are better things to do here then to annoy your teammates." Cody walked into his cabin ignoring Heather's low growl.

After changing Cody heard the door opening and closing and Trent was grinning down at Cody,

"Hey Cody, heard you and Gwen are going for a swim, I'm joining in." Trent said grinning as he pulled off his shirt. Cody grinned back at the musician and walked out of the cabin calling out to Trent as he did so.

"mmhmm alright just hurry up, I ain't waiting for ya to come out!" Cody relaxed and leaned against the railing as he waited for his two friends to change. Suddenly he was very aware of Heather's piercing stare being laid on him and Cody grinned clumsily,

"Uh, hi?" Cody said to Heather who scowled at the teen.

X

**Confessional; Heather**

"Grr, who does that little geek think he is! Trying to act all friendly after saying the things he did and then disappearing for 3 days! And then on top of that he isn't even giving this challenge a go!" Heather said scowling murderously with her arms crossed.

X

"What are you hiding under those bandages?!" Heather asked suddenly and more than a little sharply. Cody's eyes widened at the unexpected and very dangerous question, quickly adopting the sleaziest grin he could Cody gave a reply.

"Oh my! Heather if you wanted to see me strip then all you to do was ask~" Cody said in sing-song and Heather scowled at the geeky teen.

"Can it nerd!" Heather snapped before resorting to ignoring the gap-toothed teen. Cody smiled and shrugged at Lindsay right as Heather and Trent walked out. Cody grinned at them and they headed off towards the dock.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

(_Day of the challenge)_

**Camera Start**

Cody suppressed a yawn as he stared into the talent show, his team was currently winning by a lot with Dj's ribbon dancing not quite measuring up to Trent's love song or Justin's fashion parade.

And Bridgette was well…

The less said about that the better.

Heather was currently climbing on stage and Cody had this awful feeling that he'd forgotten something important, it was right as she revealed Gwen's diary that Cody grit his teeth and realised exactly what it was.

Heather was going to read out Gwen's diary on national T.V.

Cody sighed and tried in vain to think of a way to stop Heather that wouldn't get him voted off. The geeky teen then saw Gwen stiffening up and going even paler usual. At the sight of the girl he loved tensing up so harshly Cody made a decision. He might not be able to stop Heather, but he'd be there for Gwen; even if she didn't like him in the way he wanted her to, even if a part of him would always pine for her…

He wouldn't let that stop him from doing what was right.

Climbing down to Gwen's level on the bleachers Cody gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze and when she turned to look at him he nodded and smiled at her.

"Remember what I said; just don't let her get to you." Cody whispered as Heather gave her 'introduction' "it's the reaction she's looking for."

Gwen seemed to relax a bit at this before a glint of determination entered her eyes and she nodded back at Cody.

Cody then relaxed and figured he'd probably fixed things up quite a bit, now all he had to do was tune out Heather revealing Gwen's crush on Trent and-

"Okay so I'm trying to ignore him, but he's just so cute-" Cody's just barely managed to contain a wince at the sharp pain suddenly stabbing into his heart and Gwen sucked in a sharp breath, "-if they had custom ordered a guy to be a distraction for me here it would have been Mc-hotty." Cody didn't realise how silly the nick-name was the first time around and he might've teased Gwen about it a little if it weren't so depressing for him. Instead desperately trying to ignore that part of him that was currently burning up in an agony Cody gave Gwen a gentle smile and nodded at her when her gaze flicked over to him.

Gwen shifted closer to Cody before sending up a longing gaze up at Trent who was higher up on the bleachers. Cody winced ever so slightly at that but managed not to give any more of a reaction.

"We just totally connect he's pretty much the only person here I actually l can relate to here." Cody bit his lip… okay that one hurt… a lot…

In fact he was seriously under estimating how much of an effect that line would have on him. Cody's teal eyes flicked over to Gwen who was currently shaking.

She didn't even think they connected as friends?

Well I suppose that's not true, there is another person who I quite like," Cody blinked and smiled, this was her writing about him! This was the part where he at least got an honourable mention as a good friend but nothing more! Cody tried to ignore how depressing the thought was inwardly.

"We haven't really spoken much but he plays guitar really nicely and I love musical talent."

Cody's entire body froze as that information clashed with what he had in his head.

"Wait…I don't play the guitar" Cody said scrunching his face in thought, not noticing Gwen pale up even more than usual, his eyes flicked up to Trent who shrugged at the gaze. Finally Gwen had enough and ran off to the cabins quickly, leaving Cody blinking and staring after her with a soft frown.

Cody shook his head angrily; damnit he screwed up again didn't he? Hopping off the bleachers he motioned for Trent to follow him and the two teens went after Gwen to help her. The Geek's eyes flicked up once to the stage where Heather sat with a smile, their eyes met for a second and Cody frowned, narrowing his eyes at her and shook his head before turning around and walking off, he wasn't going to let Heather be vindicated by letting her see the effect she had on people…

It was the reaction after all, right?

He never saw Heather's eyes widen, nor the moment of vulnerability on her face as she watched him leave, something occurring to the queen bee and leaving her feeling… wistful to say the least.

**Camera end**

XXXXXX

"Later _Brah_"

Cody watched with a frown as Heather called out mockingly to Justin as he walked off to the dock of shame. Whilst Cody didn't like Justin; right now he was a much better teammate then Heather was… Speaking of which the geek turned to look at the Queen bee with a sigh, wondering if there truly was anything he could've done to help her out of the dark place she was in right now… considering that all she cared and thought about right now was selfishness and greed he doubted it. Still he should've at least helped Gwen and stopped her diary from being read aloud.

The brunette turned to Gwen frowning lightly, he and Trent after much consoling via cabin door, had managed to get her out of the cabin and cleaned up for the campfire ceremony.

Still… that diary was revealing… Cody wasn't an idiot, he knew who the mysterious 'mc-hotty' most likely was… but it still didn't really compute with him… Gwen liked him back? _Now?!_ It just… somehow didn't make sense for him… it'd always been him chasing after Gwen and barely receiving a friendship out of pity before she began to accept him… then there'd been that terrifying and depressing gap growing between him and her during world tour as he withdrew into himself and became a quiet background object in the season before the finale.

But now… this shell of himself that was barely clinging to sanity through this time-travel fiasco had somehow attracted Gwen… and Cody was still at a complete loss. His teal eyes flicked from her to the Killer Bass cabins where he knew Courtney was at that moment uncertainely.

Why was he still so confused? Wasn't Gwen the girl of his dreams? The kind of girl that only came by once in a life-time? The girl he could only dream of falling in love with?

So then why did that single severed connection with Courtney feel different than the moments he'd shared with Gwen?

XXXXXX

**End Chapter**

Ever been constipated, but really had to go to bathroom? Because that was this chapter for me,

A hard goddamn thing to get out, that's for sure.

With massive drama within family 'friends' including divorce, lawsuits, insane husbands and equally insane wives who just happened to be on the closest thing resembling the 'right' in that case. Them moving with us for a while before leaving just as year 12 hit for me, I've had little time between stress to write this… plus I went through a positive period and wasn't feeling Cody's depressing attitude…

"Thankfully" that ended quick enough and I'm back to feeling a bit miserable about m'self… so bad for me, but hey! Low self-esteem on my end means more writing for you guys!

ANYWAY

The story is about to pick up! Freaking finally!

I will warn you that the next chapter will feature respawns, gore, and Cody realising just what his powers mean. It's also the first major step away from canon.

**This** is where the story crosses from a teen drama with a depressed time-travelling Cody to a supernatural thriller.

Essentially its part one, and we've just finished the prologue, the mysteries are about to take precedence over petty teenage drama, and we have some serious canon to throw away and go into a new universe entirely…

*jumps for joy*

*Slips on Chris mask*

ALL THIS, AND MORE, NEXT TIME; ON TOTAL. DRAMA. TIME. BRAND.

SEE YA NEXT TIME EVERYONE

*credits start rolling*

(but seriously, be prepared for a tone shift, and shit to get serious, because now teenage angst is going to be the least of Cody's problems.)


End file.
